Monica Coc Magnusson

Monica became the first Indigenous woman from southern Belize to be called to the Belize Bar and become a lawyer. For the last decade, she has engaged in the struggle to defend Maya land rights. She served as local counsel to the Maya Leaders Alliance and the Toledo Alcaldes Association where she helped advance claims before Belize’s highest appellate court, the Caribbean Court of Justice, as well as the Supreme Court of Belize. She was involved in the landmark land rights case Maya Leaders Alliance, et al v The Attorney General of Belize. Most recently, she served as co-counsel to the Maya community of Jalacte who was awarded $3 million USD in damages for violation of their constitutional rights.