Officials probe livestreamed murder of TikTok star who denounced gang
The Venezuelan prosecutor's office said Monday it has launched an investigation into the livestreamed murder of a popular TikTok user who had denounced the Tren de Aragua criminal gang and allegedly corrupt police officials.
Jesus Sarmiento, who had nearly 80,000 followers on TikTok, was murdered over the weekend by armed men who broke into the residence where he was staying.
In the video shared on social media, a woman banging on a door and screaming for help can be heard in the background.
"They shot me, they shot me," Sarmiento says, as blood is visible on the floor. Two armed men appear briefly before the stream ends.
"Attorney General Tarek William Saab announces that the Public Prosecutor's Office... has been tasked with investigating, identifying, and punishing those responsible for the assassination of Jesus Sarmiento," the prosecutor's office announced on Instagram on Monday.
Sarmiento had "denounced the threats he was receiving from members of GEDOS (Structured Organized Crime Group) and alleged police officers," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
In his TikTok posts, Sarmiento spoke about the leader of the Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero, who is one of the country's most wanted criminals known by the alias "Nino Guerrero." The U.S. State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
The Venezuelan government has maintained that the Tren de Aragua — which the U.S. considers a "terrorist" organization — has already been dismantled and denies its existence.
Sarmiento shared photos and videos of alleged members of the gang and denounced the "extortion" by police officers.
"I was kidnapped by... DAET — the police's Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions," he stated in one of his final videos.
"We are overrun with delinquent officials who work with common criminals," he added.
Sarmiento's murder marks the latest in a string of deadly attacks on popular social media figures.
Earlier this month, Pakistani police said 17-year-old TikTok star Sana Yousaf was shot dead by a man who had repeatedly contacted her online.
And last month, the murder of a young influencer during a livestream in Jalisco, in western Mexico, shocked the country. Authorities insisted there was no "evidence" that the murder of 23-year-old Valeria Márquez was linked to organized crime, and prosecutors opened an investigation for "femicide."
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Venezuelan influencer who criticized gangs and police shot dead during TikTok livestream
A Venezuelan influencer who criticized both gangs and allegedly corrupt cops was shot and killed on Monday while livestreaming on TikTok, authorities said. Venezuela's Ministry of Public Safety said in a statement on Instagram that influencer Gabriel Jesús Sarmiento died in the city of Maracay. Sarmiento often criticized criminal groups and alleged corruption in law enforcement through his content online, and the ministry added that his death came shortly after he reported 'threats made against him by members of the GEDOs (Organized Crime Structured Groups, in Spanish) and alleged police officials.' Maracay is the capital of Aragua, the region from which the notorious Tren de Aragua gang takes its name, though there is no known connection between the TikToker's death and the criminal group. CNN has reached out to police in Aragua for comment. The ministry also said it assigned the 69th Prosecutor's Office Against Organized Crime to 'investigate, identify, and prosecute' those responsible for Sarmiento's death. In a recording of Sarmiento's livestream viewed by CNN, a woman can be heard screaming offscreen, while a man asks her why she is yelling. 'What happened, what happened?' shouts the man in the recording, followed by a heavy burst of gunfire. 'They shot me!' the man then screams. The video ends with the image of two unidentified armed men. Seconds later, the livestream stops and the video ends. Sarmiento's death comes just over a month after another Latin American influencer was killed while livestreaming. Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez was shot and killed in a salon in Jalisco in May, sparking outrage over high rates of femicide in the region. Just days before Marquez's death, another woman – a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz – was shot dead, also during a livestream, alongside three other people. CNN is making efforts to contact Sarmiento's family, as well as Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab, for further information.
UPI
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TdA leader hit with sanctions, charges and added to FBI top 10 list
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When you're there, Foote says, "Do not ever sign a document that anyone gives you unless it was given to you by your immigration attorney. That's the only person you are signing documents for." On a call with BuzzFeed, Foote explained why it's so important not to sign anything without your attorney. "Detention officers, ICE officers are allowed to trick people. There is no protection from ICE officers using persuasion, taking advantage of the fact that you don't speak English. So you really want to make sure you're not signing anything. If you are forced to sign something, there's very much a strong legal case of coercion entering a deportation order under duress or coercion. But unfortunately, that suit will probably be fought after you're deported." Next, Foote wants you to know that you have the right to a hearing before an immigration judge. "You have a day in court," he says. "You have due process rights." 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So it's vital to know that you have to ask for representation in immigration court. He also explained why you don't need to say much else to the judge. "That judge is a neutral third party. They're separate from you and your rights, and you and your attorney. So I feel like when people go in front of a judge, they're often like, I have to do whatever the judge says. It's like, that's actually not true. Sometimes judges are going to be looking out for completely opposite interests, or they're looking to clear a docket, or we just don't know what their motivations are. They are supposed to be third-party arbiters of a case, but they're not always going to have the same interests; they're not there to look out for your rights. That's your lawyer's job." And for the last step, he advises you to memorize an emergency contact's phone number today so you can make a call while you're in detention. "You're going to memorize someone's phone number right now, someone you trust who you know is going to answer the phone. That's all you need to know how to do by yourself, because after that, you're going to have an immigration lawyer. You're going to contact your emergency contact." Foote told BuzzFeed, "Definitely be careful what you say on the phone. Lines are recorded if you're calling from a detention center. So don't say, 'Hey, this was that crime I committed, and this is how I ended up getting in this detention center.' You just want to say, 'Hey, I was picked up by ICE. I'm now being held here. Please help me out.'" He went on to say, "Even if you don't have someone's phone number memorized, or you don't know who to contact, these detention centers have been in existence for quite some time, so there are a lot of nonprofits that are quite literally next door, or sometimes even attached to the detention center. Those nonprofits are great resources to help get you a lawyer or in contact with your family. They've been doing this for, decades, so they're able to really help. They're no strangers to a crisis, and I lean on them all the time." Foote says these 4 steps apply whether you're undocumented, a legal resident, or a citizen, but if you have legal status, he says you should make that known at every step of the way. "You definitely want to let everyone and anyone at the ICE facility, your detention officer, the people who are arresting you, know that you are a citizen and provide those documents as quickly as possible, like a US passport, birth certificate, something like that, that is evidence." In the comments, people also mentioned asking for a credible fear interview. Foote told BuzzFeed, "Credible fear interviews are conducted immediately after someone crosses the border without documentation, before they see an immigration judge. It is supposed to be a short series of questions to determine if someone qualifies for asylum; however, the person deciding the outcome of a CFI is the asylum officer conducting the interview. That person works for DHS and USCIS. They are not a neutral third-party arbiter like an immigration judge. So, anyone being asked to talk to an asylum officer in a CFI should request to have an attorney present, then ask for a list of pro bono attorneys in the area of the detention center, and say nothing to an asylum officer until they have an attorney present." Finally, Foote shared his perspective on the Trump administration's immigration tactics. He told BuzzFeed, "The US does not have the capacity or the resources to do on such a large scale what they want us to believe they're capable of doing. So I think that they are being very subversive in the information that they're letting out. They'll deport someone who's a citizen. It'll dominate headlines. They'll deport someone who has a green card, it'll dominate headlines." "The immigrant community is very much a word-of-mouth community, so once you sort of get a message out there that really bad, crazy things are happening, it very much spreads. But if you look at it, we haven't built a wall, we haven't taken major immigration legislative reforms, even though the conservatives have the House and Senate." He says that the situation is far more nuanced than what people may be seeing on social media, and the system is not as broken as it may seem. He summed it up, saying, "Immigration judges understand the law and how it's applied and when it's being violated. So, I'm having plenty of wins in front of immigration judges who understand that ICE is violating well-established constitutional law."
