I am an expert in US-Latin American relations, an author, a life-long athlete, an activist for social justice, and an advocate for the falsely accused and wrongfully convicted. Today, I am a Deputy Public Defender working as a misdemeanor attorney at the San Diego County Public Defender’s Office. My goal is to fight passionately, empatheticallly, and zealously for our clients who have been accused of crimes and are fighting to prove their innocence. You can find my LinkedIn page here. If you are looking for my previous academic work or interested in finding out more about my research on Latin America, US Foreign Policy, or International Relations, you can find it here.

Additionally, I am currently working on my second book about the lessons that I learned fighting to overcome being falsely accused of a crime. I decided to compile and share the insights I learned through that process in the hope that the lessons I gained may help other people facing similar situations. You can also read my latest published article about how our legal system criminalizes people with mental health problems here.

My first book is entitled, Sandinista Nicaragua’s Resistance to U.S. Coercion: Revolutionary Deterrence in Asymmetric Conflict,(Cambridge University Press, 2017). For a free preview of my first book click on the book icon below:

Academic Bio: Hector Perla Jr. has a Ph.D. in Political Science (UCLA, 2005) and a J.D. from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law (2021). He is the first U.S.-born Salvadoran to earn a Doctorate in both Political Science and Jurisprudence. Prior to graduating, he was selected as a 2019 Rural Summer Legal Corp Fellow, and in 2020 he was selected as a Fellow in the McGeorge Federal Defender Clinic for the Eastern District of California. Since graduating in 2021, he has served as a post-bar law clerk and paralegal in the San Diego Public Defender’s Office Central Misdemeanor and Fresh Start Units respectively. He became a licensed California attorney in February 2023 and today, he is a Deputy Public Defender at the Office of the San Diego County Public Defender.

Political Journalism & Policy Analysis

Additionally I have served as a political analyst for various news organizations. Here are a couple of examples of my work in this area:

Above you can watch my analysis regarding the incarceration of President Lula Da Silva of Brazil based on false accusations against him, and how his politically motivated wrongful conviction allowed Lula to become a political symbol, like Nelson Mandela, around which Brazilians will rally to support the fight for democracy.

Lastly, here’s an article on the 2016 “Soft Coup” against Dilma Rousseff of the Worker’s Party in Brazil, which appeared in the Washington Post, entitled “Here’s why some people think Brazil is in the middle of a ‘soft coup‘”

Hector Perla