Héctor Herrera Santoyo holds a law degree from the Universidad de los Andes, where he also studied Anthropology and was part of the program Global Justice and Human Rights. He is currently working with AIDA as coordinator of the Network for Environmental Justice in Colombia.
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Gladys Martínez is AIDA's Executive Director, working out of San Jose, Costa Rica. For eight years, she led AIDA’s Marine Biodiversity and Coastal Protection Program. Gladys has a law degree from the University of Costa Rica and a master's degree in Environmental Security and Peace from the United Nations University for Peace. She also became a Kellog Executive Scholar in Nonprofit Management through Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
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Sandra Moguel is Mexican and was an attorney with AIDA's Ecosystems Program. She is a graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and holds a Master's degree in Environmental Law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Sandra has more than 15 years of experience in environmental research and litigation, primarily in wetlands and fisheries protection issues in both civil society organizations and the public sector.
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Tania Paz worked with AIDA in the areas of administration and communications out of our Mexico City office. A Nicaraguan, she has a degree in business administration from the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA), Managua and is studying a Master’s in Public Policy at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico. She has experience in research, community service, rural development, and advocacy and municipalism in public policy.
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Astrid Puentes Riaño was one of the two Co-Executive Directors of AIDA (2003-2021). She was responsible for AIDA’s legal efforts and organizational management. Originally from Colombia, Astrid has significant experience linking environmental protection with human rights, and climate change, highlighting the importance to prioritize climate justice. For over twenty years she has been working on public interest litigation, especially in the field of human rights, the environment, and climate change. Astrid holds an LL.M. in Comparative Law from the University of Florida, a Masters in Environmental Law from the University of the Basque Country, and a J.D. from the Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia. Astrid has also taught several seminars and classes on human rights, the environment and climate change, including at American University Law School in Washington, and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
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Florencia is the Director of AIDA's Climate Program, and Coordinator of the Climate Finance Area, working from Santiago, Chile. She obtained her Law degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and also completed an MSc in Environmental Politics and Regulation at the London School of Economics (LSE) in England. She joined our team in 2012 and collaborates with Climate and Ecosystem programs. She enjoys spending time with her pets as well as cooking, camping and nature trekking.
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María José Veramendi Villa was AIDA senior attorney for the Human Rights and Environment Program. She is a Peruvian lawyer with degrees from the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She has a diploma in Women and Human Rights: Theory and Practice from the Universidad de Chile and an LLM (Master of Laws) in International Legal Studies with a specialization in human rights from the American University Washington College of Law. Previously, she was a researcher in the Human Rights Program at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and worked as a human rights lawyer for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and as a lawyer at the Legal Defense Institute in Peru. She has worked as a teacher and lecturer of various courses and seminars, and has been published in an array of publications on the subject.
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