The example of the many people who gave their lives drove me to become what I am now, a defender of human rights.

She ‘was born’ in the University of El Salvador as a Doctorate in Law (1974). She gave birth to five children. She defended the rights of the workers as the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Labor and as a labor law judge. She defended the rights of children and occupied the office of Judge Advocate General for the Defense of the Human Rights, created in 1992. She faced the State to defend the people. She was threatened. She resisted. Now, she is a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice.

An innate sense of justice and social sensitivity led her to study law. Married since her first year of university, she kept putting her studies on hold to give birth five times. In a sense she was born twice in the University: the first time with a Doctorate in Law in 1974; the second time with a degree in Political Sciences in 1988. She is Victoria Marina de Avilés, Salvadoran. Victoria Velásquez–the Avilés would come later–was born in 1943. A dedicated student since her childhood, she is known as the defender of so-called lost causes. According to her father and some of her teachers, she started a degree in social work. But things changed and she ended up studying law. ‘The Protection of Salaries’ was the title of her doctorate thesis at the University of El Salvador, and it lead to the first job of her professional career–she became the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Labor (1979). During her time as Vice-Minister, she influenced the minimum period for maternity leave to be increased to 90 days. Soon afterwards, she was a labor law judge (until 1983). The Office of the Judge Advocate General for the Defense of the Human Rights was created after the Peace Treaties of 1992. She was assigned to the child rights department and, soon thereafter, the Director of the Institution (1995). She faced the State to defend the people. She knew of threats–of the signs and the denouncements, of the uncomfortableness of government officials who publicly challenged her. She resisted. Although she was loved by the general public, the political class rejected her and she was not reappointed. She holds, as a reminder, the memory of what a street boy said, with a voice tight with emotion, to the police when he was caught inhaling drugs: “Call my friend, the Advocate.” Now she is a Magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Supreme Court of Justice