Diana Salazar Méndez

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Salazar and the second or maternal family name is Méndez.
Diana Salazar Méndez
Salazar in January 2024
Attorney General of Ecuador
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 April 2019
Preceded byRuth Palacios Brito
Personal details
Born (1981-06-05) June 5, 1981 (age 43)
Ibarra, Ecuador
Education
OccupationJurist, lawyer, prosecutor
Website

Diana Salazar Méndez (born 5 June 1981, Ibarra, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian jurist and lawyer, and the current Attorney-General of Ecuador.[1][2] She was said to be leading the country's fight against "narcopolitics" in January 2024.

Early life and education

Salazar spent her childhood in her native Ibarra, moving to Quito at age 16 with family.[3] She was raised solely by her mother Olivia Méndez, an educational psychologist, along with three siblings.[2][4]

She is of Afro-Ecuadorian descent.[2] Salazar has a degree in Political and Social Sciences from the Central University of Ecuador. She also has a master's degree in Procedural Law with a Criminal mention, from the Indoamérica Technological University.[1]

Career

In 2001, at the age of 20, she began working in the Pichincha Prosecutor's Office as an assistant prosecutor, while still studying at the Central University Law School. In 2006 she was promoted as a secretary in the office, and in 2011 she became a prosecutor for the south of the capital.[4]

As prosecutor, Salazar investigated the 2015 FIFA corruption case, in which the ex-president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation Luis Chiriboga was arrested. She later chaired the Financial and Economic Analysis Unit, and directed investigations into corruption, such as then Vice President Jorge Glas's involvement in the Odebrecht scandal.[5]

Diana Salazar was appointed unanimously as the Attorney General of Ecuador by the transitionary Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control on 1 April 2019.[3][6] She was the first black woman to hold the position.[7]

In December 2023, she led operation Metastasis which led to the arrest of the president of the Judiciary and another police senior figure for organized crime and drug trafficking.[8] There were 30 arrests and 75 raids. She was said to be leading the country's fight against "narcopolitics" in January 2024 because politicians and judges were collaborating with drug gangs. This was during events was when a national TV station's live programme was taken over at gun point and one of the country's most notorious criminals, José Adolfo Macías Villamar went missing from prison.[9]

In 2024, Time magazine described her work as some of the most challenging and risky in the Western Hemisphere, naming her to their annual list of 100 most influential people.

There has been at least three attempts to impeach her.[10] On 16 May 2024 she said that she was pregnant with her second child. The next day the Legislative Administrative Council resolved to suspend another attempt to have her impeached until February 2025. Salazar had argued that she had a right to have her pregnancy in peace. There are seven member of the Legislative Administrative Council. Five of them agreed with her and two, Esther Cuesta and Viviana Veloz, abstained.[11]

In July 2024, Salozar published her own accusations against Gissela Garzón who had instigated a demand for impeachment. Salozar said that Garzón had broken confidentiality by sharing Salozar's medical details with the exiled ex-President Correa. Garzón said that she was not at the meeting where the details were discussed.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b "Fiscalía General del Estado | Diana Salazar Méndez fue posesionada como Fiscal General del Estado" [Diana Salazar Méndez was inaugurated as Attorney General of the State] (in Spanish). 8 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "dianasalazarmendez.com" (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Velez, Roger (1 April 2019). "Diana Salazar es la nueva Fiscal General con el puntaje más alto en el Cpccs-t". El Comercio. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b "¿Quién es Diana Salazar?" [Who is Diana Salazar?]. Vistazo (in Spanish). 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Breaking News, Ecuador News, World, Sports, Entertainment » Diana Salazar is the new Attorney General of Ecuador". www.ecuadortimes.net. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Diana Salazar escogida como una de las 100 personas más influyentes en el mundo por la revista TIME" (in Spanish). Guayaquil. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  7. ^ Power, Samantha (17 March 2024). "THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2024 Diana Salazar Méndez". New York. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  8. ^ Plan V (14 December 2023). "Wilman Terán y Pablo Ramírez, detenidos por investigación relacionada con delincuencia organizada y narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  9. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  10. ^ María Teresa Escobar (23 April 2024). "Ecuador's Crusading Attorney General Is Facing Her Toughest Challenge Yet". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  11. ^ "Esther Cuesta y Viviana Veloz se abstuvieron en votación para suspender juicio político contra Diana Salazar". El Universo (in Spanish). 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  12. ^ [email protected] (19 July 2024). "Diana Salazar asegura que Gissela Garzón sí accedió a su historia clínica y que Rafael Correa publicó detalles". KCH FM (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 December 2024.
Preceded by
Ruth Palacios Brito
 Attorney General of Ecuador
8 April 2019 – present 		Incumbent