Ex-chief prosecutor to run for president in Guatemala Guatemala's former chief prosecutor Thelma Aldana lauded for years of rooting out high-level corruption plans to compete for the country's presidency

GUATEMALA CITY -- A former chief prosecutor lauded for efforts to root out high-level corruption plans to compete for Guatemala's presidency.

Samuel Perez is secretary general of the recently formed Seed Movement party and he announced Thelma Aldana's candidacy overnight.

The party will work with Aldana's civil society organization Citizen Platform and make Aldana its candidate at an assembly in March.

Guatemala will hold its first round of national elections on June 16.

The 63-year-old Aldana was Guatemala's top prosecutor from 2014 to 2018. Her biggest successes were the jailing of former President Otto Perez Molina, his Vice President Roxana Baldetti and most of his cabinet on corruption charges. Perez Molina resigned in 2015 and is awaiting trial in corruption cases.