I am a social scientist whose work addresses questions of gangs, violence, and migration as well as democracy and autocratisation in contemporary Latin America. I am a Research Professor with the School of Government and Economics at the Panamerican University, Mexico City, and a member of Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNII). Between 2019 and 2022 I was a Visiting Fellow with the Latin America and Caribbean Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Prior to joining the Panamerican University, I was a Research Fellow with Mexico’s National Science Council (CONAHCYT). I also held research positions at the Institute for Security and Democracy (INSYDE), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM). I hold a PhD in International Politics from Aberystwyth University.

My book Mano Dura: The Politics of Gang Violence in El Salvador (University of Texas Press, 2017) examines how El Salvador tackled street gangs through violent means and how local civil society groups advocated for an alternative gang policy based on social prevention and re-integration. Combining ethnography with content analysis, the book contributes to understanding the effectiveness of NGOs, while offering insights into the impacts of repressive gang policies.

My work has been published in the Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Politics and Society, the Bulletin of Latin American Research, Geopolitics, the Revista de Ciencia Política, and the International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies. In addition to my academic work, I create films and podcasts on human rights and social issues.