Juanita Cabrera Lopez (Maya Mam)
Executive Director
Juanita is Maya Mam and originally from the Western Highlands of Guatemala. She is a survivor of the internal armed conflict in Guatemala and a former political refugee. She now works with Maya leaders and elders through their traditional institutions for environmental protection, recognition of land rights, human rights, cultural preservation and education. Juanita’s work with indigenous peoples has focused on the full and effective use and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Her emphasis is focused on the right of self-determination and collective rights to lands, territories, natural resources and the environment. She holds a Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Ernesto Ajanel Calel (Maya K'iche')
Program Coordinator, Indigenous Language Rights Program
Ernesto is a youth leader born after the signing of the Peace Accords in Guatemala. His parents are survivors of the internal-armed conflict and due to the war and genocide in Guatemala, his family was internally displaced, leading to his birth in the mountains of Nebaj, Maya Ixil territory. He is fluent in Maya K'iche', Ixil, and Spanish because of his upbringing, and is conversational in English. Ernesto's natural leadership formation stems from his parent's resistance, teachings, and survival. Throughout his childhood, he learned about the importance of languages as a tool to fight for the rights of the Maya. He currently lives in Ohio where he is a community leader and supports the Maya community's access to resources and better understanding of their rights.
Lorena E Brady (Ecuador)
Policy and Program Manager
Lorena is originally from Quito, Ecuador, and has worked alongside indigenous leaders, elders, attorneys, and human rights defenders for the past decade. Her work has focused on supporting indigenous peoples from the United States, Mexico, Central and South America in both local and international human rights advocacy. Her primary areas of work have been policy, communications and fundraising efforts that assist indigenous peoples’ fight for the recognition of their right of self-determination and securing rights to lands, territories and natural resources. Lorena has worked with prominent indigenous led organizations throughout her entire career in support of the indigenous human rights movement. She studied Government and International Politics with a minor in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University in the DC area.
Andrea Flores (Guatemala), Administrative Coordinator
Andrea is a child of Guatemalan immigrants and a proud ascendent of the Maya Q’eqchi’ nation. After relocating from Los Angeles to Bishopville, South Carolina at the age of 7, she was a first hand witness to the unfiltered and disproportionate effects that poverty, policing and racism held on the African American community in the South. Living in a southern Republican state has molded the way she views the world and has gifted her with the deep understanding that just as all collective struggles are intrinsically linked, so is their collective liberation. Andrea has continued to channel her advocacy through her work at the International Mayan League and particularly through her art as the lead communications assistant for the League. She is intentional about always rooting her activism in truth telling and allowing the words and stories of her relatives be told through her graphics with the hopes of sparking real and permanent change.
Manuela S. Vázquez (Mexico), Development Associate
Manuela is an experienced fundraiser whose work has focused on supporting those most affected by the oppressive systems under which we live. Driven by community-centered practices, she enjoys collaborating with communities to create sustainable fundraising practices to meet ongoing needs and decrease reliance on corporate nonprofits and governmental agencies. Through her work in fundraising, she has been able to collaborate with exceptional movement leaders to produce documentaries exploring the white pathological foundations of Latinidad, provide financial and material support to undocumented communities in Southern Virginia through wealth re-distribution, and support currently, and formerly, incarcerated folks. Prior to focusing on fundraising, Manuela worked as a bilingual gender-based violence educator hosting workshops on language access services to survivors, the criminalization of survival, identifying patterns of abuse, and much more. Manuela is passionate about food, family, and service, so in her spare time you can find her baking, laughing with loved ones, and narrating audiobooks for kiddos with learning disabilities.
Dr. Emil’ Keme (K’iche’ Maya)
Cultural Advisor
Emil’ Keme (aka Emilio del Valle Escalante) is an Indigenous K’iche’ Maya transnational scholar and activist, member of the Maya anticolonial collective Ixb’alamkyej Junajpu Wunaq’ and acting Professor of English Literature at Emory University. He has academic expertise on Indigenous peoples' history and culture, particularly in Mesoamerica. He is the author of Maya Nationalisms and Postcolonial Challenges in Guatemala (2009; Spanishversion: Nacionalismos Mayas by FLACSO, 2008). Keme is the 2020 recipient of Cuba’s prestigious Casa de las Americas Literary Criticism Prize for his book Le Maya Q’atzij/Our Maya Word. Poetics of Resistance in Guatemala (2021; Spanish version: Le Maya Q’atzij/Nuestra palabra Maya by Cuba’s Casa de las Americas Press).
Janet Hernandez (Mexico), Leadership Development
Janet is a native of the US/Mexico border; she grew up in Mexico and moved to the US as a child. She is the daughter of a community organizer who is her guide in her work to empower immigrant communities and racial minorities in the US. Janet has over 10 years of experience working with community-based organizations to develop and implement civic engagement strategies that impact their local communities. She has extensive experience working with Latino and immigrant communities on advocacy, organizing, leadership development, and electoral campaigns. She is a graduate of The American University and holds certificates from Georgetown University, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and GW’s School of Political Management. Janet is currently a W.K. Kellogg Foundation/CCL Fellow.