Following the attack, De León told a press conference that he would continue to carry out his official duties, but that he would take additional security precautions including keeping his official commitments confidential and constantly changing his place of residence. He also revealed that he had been receiving both written and telephone death threats.

Guatemala suffered a civil conflict which lasted over more than 30 years, only formally ending with Peace Accords in 1996. The Accords made far-reaching promises on a wide range of social, political and cultural issues, including as regards the administration of justice. However, few of the Accords commitments have been implemented, and those pressing to implement them or to combat the prevailing impunity for the gross abuses of the conflict years have suffered a series of new abuses. Over the past several years, the judicial sector appears to have been particularly targeted for repression.

After two visits to the country in 1999 and 2001, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy reported on more than 90 cases of abuses against people involved in the justice system and urged the government to take steps to end threats and harassment against judges and lawyers. Only days before the attack on De León Argueta, Dina Ochoa, President of the Guatemalan Association of Judges and Magistrates of the Guatemalan Supreme Court called for better security and guarantees for the security of the Guatemalan legal community, listing 45 recent cases of threats and intimidation suffered by judges, lawyers and prosecutors.

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