María Luisa Aguilar Rodríguez

Director, Centro Prodh

“Centro Prodh works to ensure that people living in poverty, women, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples, migrants, and others who have historically faced discrimination in Mexico can exercise their rights and make their voices heard. For 38 years, and with Ford’s support, we have accompanied victims and their families through every stage of their search for justice, combining legal defense, advocacy, communications, and legal empowerment so they can become protagonists in demanding accountability, strengthening the rule of law, and driving institutional change.

In 2025, 747 people walked through Centro Prodh’s doors seeking justice after serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, unlawful killings, and arbitrary and unjust detentions. 117 came looking for legal advice and 630 participated in our workshops on legal empowerment around the country. Most were also looking for someone to listen, explain an overwhelming legal system, and to walk alongside them on what is often a years-long journey. We provided assistance to a mother who had spent years searching for her son. He left for a job at 17, unaware that he was being lured by a scam. She didn’t hear from him until he called and said, ‘They have us in some weird place. I’m very scared.’ She ultimately located his body in a clandestine mass grave in Jalisco. We worked with her to get the federal prosecutor’s office to make sure her son’s remains were correctly identified and returned them to her with dignity.

Each number represents a person, a family, and a community that has chosen to pursue truth and justice. By combining legal representation with popular education, strategic communications, and national and international advocacy, Centro Prodh helps transform individual struggles into broader efforts to strengthen the rule of law and make justice more accessible for everyone. Justice begins when people’s dignity is recognized.”

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