Diana Salazar Méndez (born 5 June 1981,

Ibarra, Ecuador Ibarra (; full name San Miguel de Ibarra; Quechuan languages, Quechua: Impapura) is a city in northern Ecuador and the capital of the Imbabura Province. It lies at the foot of the Imbabura Volcano and on the left bank of the Tahuando river. It is ...

) is an Ecuadorian jurist and lawyer, and the current Attorney-General of Ecuador. She was said to be leading the country's fight against "narcopolitics" in January 2024, and was described as "Ecuador's iron lady" in February 2025.

Early life and education

Salazar spent her childhood in her native Ibarra, moving to

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

at age 16 with family. She was raised solely by her mother Olivia Méndez, an educational psychologist, along with three siblings. She is of

Afro-Ecuadorian Afro-Ecuadorians (), also known as Black Ecuadorians (), are Ecuadorians of predominantly Sub-Saharan African descent. History and background Most Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of enslaved Africans who were transported by predominantly B ...

descent. Salazar has a degree in

Political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

from the

Central University of Ecuador The Central University of Ecuador () is a national university located in Quito, Ecuador. It is the oldest and largest university in the country, and one of the oldest universities in the Americas. The enrollment at the university is over 10,000 ...

. She also has a master's degree in

Procedural Law Procedural law, adjective law, in some jurisdictions referred to as remedial law, or rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil procedure, civil, lawsuit, criminal procedure, criminal or admini ...

with a Criminal mention, from the Indoamérica Technological University.

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. As prosecutor, Salazar investigated the

2015 FIFA corruption case In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach so ...

, in which the ex-president of the

Ecuadorian Football Federation The Ecuadorian Football Federation ( or ) is the governing body of football in Ecuador. Its headquarters are in Quito, and it organizes the country's various football competitions and oversees the Ecuador national team. History Numerous amate ...

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 Jorge David Glas Espinel (; born 13 September 1969) is an Ecuadorian politician and electrical engineer. He served as Vice President of Ecuador from 24 May 2013 to 13 December 2017. Then Ecuadorian president Lenín Moreno suspended Glas of his ...

's involvement in the Odebrecht scandal. 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. She was the first black woman to hold the position. 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 Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

and

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

. 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 José Adolfo Macías Villamar (born 30 September 1979), also known by the alias Fito, is an Ecuadorian drug lord and the current leader of Los Choneros cartel. He assumed leadership in 2020 following the murder of his predecessor Jorge Luis Z ...

went missing from prison. 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 ''Time'' 100 is a list of the top 100 most influential people, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly ...

. There has been at least three attempts to impeach her. 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. In July 2024, Salazar published her own accusations against Gissela Garzón who had instigated a demand for impeachment. Salazar said that Garzón had broken confidentiality by sharing Salazar's medical details with the exiled ex- President Correa. Garzón said that she was not at the meeting where the details were discussed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salazar Mendez, Diana Living people 1981 births Women government ministers of Ecuador Ecuadorian women lawyers Ecuadorian women judges Central University of Ecuador alumni University of Castilla–La Mancha alumni People from Ibarra, Ecuador 21st-century Ecuadorian women politicians 21st-century Ecuadorian politicians African diaspora in Ecuador Attorneys general of Ecuador