Guatemala prosecutor gets judge’s order to detain president

Guatemala Political Crisis

A street vendor walks sells national flags in Constitution Square in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015. As Guatemala’s presidential campaign builds to a climax, the biggest rallies of all have been demands to call off the election itself. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets in protest amid a roiling series of corruption scandals that have a former vice president behind bars accused of taking millions in bribes, and President Otto Perez Molina stripped of his immunity from prosecution and facing possible criminal charges and removal from office. AP

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s attorney general says a judge has granted her request for an order to detain President Otto Perez Molina in connection with a government corruption case that has thrown the country into turmoil.

Thelma Aldana says Judge Miquel Angel Galvez issued the order Wednesday afternoon on crimes of illicit association, fraud and receiving bribe money related to a widespread customs fraud ring in which the vice president has already been jailed and faces charges.

Aldana spoke late Wednesday to the Canal Antigua television station.

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