[2] She is also noted for her prosecution of human rights abuses, including high-profile cases against former president Efraín Ríos Montt, indicted for genocide in January, 2012, and against the perpetrators of the Dos Erres massacre, committed during the latter's dictatorship.

She is the first-ever Guatemalan law enforcement official to have brought to justice prominent human rights abusers from Guatemala's civil war era.

Under her leadership, five of Guatemala's 10 most wanted criminals were caught, and 10 times more cases of violence against women and of homicide were resolved than in any previous administration.

We have seen sentences that we thought were never before possible in our country," said Blanca Hernández, a human rights advocate whose son was detained by security forces and never seen by his family again.

Paz y Paz is also a recipient of the WOLA 2014 Human Rights Award, which honors organizations or individuals who have been exemplary in WOLA's vision of a world where human rights and social justice are the foundation of public policy.