On 11th March, Thelma Aldana, former Guatemalan Attorney General, was confirmed as a presidential candidate for the next general election in Guatemala to be held on 16 June.
Thelma Aldana is a recipient of 2018 Right Livelihood Honorary Award for her “innovative work in exposing abuse of power and prosecuting corruption, thus rebuilding people’s trust in public institutions”.
Just last Sunday, she was elected as the Presidential candidate for the new party Movimiento Semilla.
“From this citizen platform, we are going to fight to create spaces for these traditionally excluded sectors”, assured the Laureate.
Semilla is a social movement born of public demonstrations that gained momentum during 2015. The protests were initially ignited by the corruption case La Línea, which Aldana was responsible for exposing as the then Head of the Public Ministry, in cooperation with the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). La Línea resulted in approx. 60 prosecutions, including the arrest of then President Otto Pérez Molina and his Vice President Roxanna Baldetti. This case was widely viewed as ironic given that Aldana had been appointed by President Otto Pérez Molina as chief of the Public Prosecutor´s Office back in 2014.
“Movimento Semilla is a citizen platform that includes women’s organizations, indigenous peoples, young people, and excluded people, who are all the majority of the population. These marginalized people have never had the opportunity to venture into politics in Guatemala because of the old politics.”, Thelma Aldana told the Right Livelihood Award Foundation.
