Latest news with #Guatemala-based
UPI
3 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Ex-Guatemalan mayor has initial U.S. court hearing on drug charge
Aug. 6 (UPI) -- An ex-Guatemalan mayor could spend the rest of his life in jail if convicted for allegedly working to import more than five kilos of cocaine into the United States from his Latin American nation. The U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday in a statement that Romeo Ramos Cruz, 57, was extradited from Guatemala on Monday and present for an initial court hearing on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. Ramos Cruz, formerly the mayor of Santa Lucia in Guatemala's Escuintla Department in the south-central part of the country only miles to the Pacific Ocean, allegedly abused his authority to coordinate cocaine shipment logistics destined for the illicit U.S. drug market. He was charged on one count of conspiracy. Guatemala has a long history of politicians who either pilfer the public coffers or join the cartel that in recent years has shifted its illegal drug operations into Guatemala via Mexico. DOJ says from 2002 to last year the former chief of the Guatemalan city of nearly 59,000 inhabitants served as a "key" player in a Guatemala-based trafficking cartel that's sole purpose was to transport cocaine to the United States. According to court records, in one instance he agreed to help disguise a cocaine shipment from Venezuela to Guatemala as cement, and prepared an official letter on government letterhead in order to evade inspection by Guatemalan authorities. The United States has maintained a more dynamic relationship with Guatemala over the last 25 years following the end to its bloody 35-year-long civil war, but issues of inequality and exploitation of its native population still persist. "I don't understand why the US supports corrupt politicians that later are against their own policies and want to govern forever changing laws and constitutions," Carlos Torrebiarte, VP of Guatemala's right-leaning Association for the Defense of Private Property, posted last Tuesday on social media. "It happened with Noriega, Sadam, Ortega, Lula, Petro, in Afghanistan, etc.," he said. He claimed that it's "happening in Guatemala with Arevalo," in reference to the country's center-left President Bernardo Arevalo. The arrest of and extradition of Ramos Cruz was a coordinated international effort by law enforcement from the FBI, DEA, ICE, INTERPOL and Guatemalan authorities part of the so-called "Operation Take Back America" initiative in the Trump administration's crackdown on migration. The former Guatemalan politician faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Two men convicted in 2022 smuggling conspiracy that killed 53 migrants
March 19 (UPI) -- A federal jury has convicted two men for their involvement in the fatal smuggling scheme that led to the deaths of 53 migrants in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in 2022. Federal prosecutors said Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, and Armando Gonzalez-Ortega, 55, were convicted Tuesday, each on three counts related to the smuggling scheme, and face a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced on June 27. The pair were arrested in June 2023, almost a year to the day after dozens of migrants were found dead in the back of a tractor-trailer abandoned on the side of a San Antonio road on June 27, 2022. Sixty-six migrants were in the back of the trailer without water or functioning air conditioning as they were driven for hours across the state of Texas. Forty-eight of the migrants were pronounced dead at the scene, while five people who were transported to area hospitals later died. Six children and a pregnant woman were among the deceased. According to federal prosecutors, the migrant families paid the defendants and their co-conspirators between $12,000 and $15,000 to be smuggled into the United States. Coinciding with the convictions, a third defendant, Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 48, was extradited to the United States from Guatemala to face charges in connection with the conspiracy. Federal prosecutors accused Miranda-Orozco of being a leader of a Guatemala-based smuggling organization. He made his first appearance in a San Antonio federal court on Monday. Guatemalan authorities arrested him in August at the request of the United States in a large law enforcement operation carried out across the Central American country. "The extradition of Miranda-Orozco to U.S. custody is a major step in the takedown of a large and complex human smuggling organization he is alleged to be a part of," acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas said in a statement. "Just as we've shown throughout the trial of Orduna-Torres and Gonzalez-Ortega, we will continue to prosecute this case aggressively -- seeking justice for those who have perished and holding accountable those who illegally value profit over human life." Five other defendants have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the case.
Reuters
18-03-2025
- Reuters
Two convicted in smuggling death of 53 migrants in Texas in 2022
March 18 (Reuters) - A federal jury in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday convicted two Mexican men for their roles in the smuggling death of 53 migrants packed into a truck during sweltering heat in June 2022, the Justice Department said. Another suspect in the case has been extradited from Guatemala to face trial. A total of 66 migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras were stuck in a tractor-trailer with malfunctioning air conditioning that was abandoned on the outskirts of San Antonio on June 27, 2022, a day when temperatures soared as high as 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celsius). Forty-eight people were found dead at the scene and another five died in hospital. Among the dead were six children and a pregnant woman, the Justice Department said in a press release. Some migrants inside the trailer lost consciousness, while others clawed at the walls trying to escape, the Justice Department said, citing court documents and evidence presented at trial. Felipe Orduna-Torres, 30, and Armando Gonzalez-Ortega, 55, were each convicted of four separate counts of smuggling resulting in death and injury and face up life in prison at sentencing, set for June 27. At least eight suspects have been arrested with some of them still facing trial. The driver of the truck, Homero Zamorano, pleaded guilty in January. He, too, faces up to life in prison. The investigation has also resulted in the extradition of another suspect: Rigoberto Ramon Miranda-Orozco, 48. Prosecutors accuse Miranda-Orozco of leading a Guatemala-based organization that smuggled three of those who died, charging their families $12,000-$15,000 each for the journey, the Justice Department said. "The extradition of Miranda-Orozco to U.S. custody is a major step in the takedown of a large and complex human smuggling organization he is alleged to be a part of," said Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas.
