For the last 15 years, Guatemalan Judge Erika Aifan has gone everywhere with a security detail, some of them armed with AK-47s. Since 2019, she’s also moved about in an armored vehicle. It seems that her rulings have pissed off the rich and powerful. And dangerous.

The death threats and official complaints escalated after she ordered that business-people convicted of bribing a former minister must pay compensation and make public apologies.

In the past, judges such as Aifan had received assistance from the United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission, but in 2019 the then-President of Guatemala ended that assistance.

Staffers in Aifan’s own court have stolen evidence against defendants, in efforts to obstruct justice.

Undaunted and determined, Judge Aifan has had to hire lawyers to fight against attempts to remove her from the bench.

When people have urged her to leave the country, as other judges have, she’s been adamant. “We can’t keep leaving the country out of fear for our lives. That is what the criminal structures want.”