Quick Facts
LibraBiography
Thelma Esperanza Aldana Hernández (['telma espe'ɾansa al'dana eɾ'nanðes]; born 27 September 1955) is a Guatemalan jurist and politician, former President of the Supreme Court and former Attorney General.
Life
Aldana was born in Gualán, eastern Guatemala, in 1955. She graduated from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala. She has a Master's degree in Civil and Procedural Law. In 2009, she became a judge in the Supreme Court. She served as the president of the Supreme Court from 2011-2012. In 2014 she replaced the highly effective Claudia Paz y Paz as Guatemala’s attorney general. She is married.
Courts for violence against women
In 2011, when she was president of the Supreme Court, Aldana started special courts in Guatemala for femicide cases. Killing women, and violence against women are rampant in Guatemala; every year there are on the average 56,000 reports of violence against women. Eleven districts now have the special courts. Judges and police officers receive special gender crime training.
Against corruption
In 2015 Aldana led another investigation into government corruption. In this, she closely cooperated with the Commissioner of the UN International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Iván Velásquez Gómez. As a result, the President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, was forced to resign.
Presidential campaign
In 2019, Aldana entered the presidential election, campaigning on the platform of anti-corruption with new party Semilla. However, on 15 May, the Constitutional Court rejected her candidacy for President, since she had been charged (probably falsely) with corruption.
Awards
In 2015 Aldana won the Jaime Brunet Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights from the Public University of Navarra. The prize was for her work for women's rights, against gender violence, and for the rights of the indigenous peoples, as well as against politicalcorruption. The prize was 36,000 euros.
In 2016 she was recognised with an International Women of Courage Award by the US Secretary of State.
Aldana was a presidential candidate in the 2019 elections, but was disqualified by the Constitutional Court due to charges of corruption.
