Anaite Alvarado

Anaité Alvarado was born in Miami, Florida. She grew up in Guatemala and later returned to attend college at University of Miami. In 2003, she returned to her beloved Guatemala. In 2016, due to a false accusation without evidence, she was apprehended by police at her home. She spent 65 days in preventive custody inside a dangerous Guatemalan prison until a savvy attorney and an army of supporters finally set her free and she returned home to her five-year old twins. In her book, Still Standing, Anaité recounts in vivid detail every moment of darkness, along with the many of light she encounters along the way. Making the most of her new circumstances, Anaité spent her days teaching inmates English, reading to the children at the prison day care center, and she managed to build a library thru donations. She describes a world unknown to most, product of a failed penitentiary system and a corrupt system of justice. In 2019, she worked as a consultant for the Government of Guatemala, as leader of an interagency commission whose goal was to devise a legal path through which inmates may exercise their right to work for pay, as stated in the country´s Constitution. She currently lives in Guatemala with her twin children.