International

Brazilian fraud case reopened against US lawmaker Santos

Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP

| By AFP |

Prosecutors in Brazil said Wednesday they have reinstated over-decade-old fraud charges against US Republican Congressman George Santos, who is under fire for admitting he made up large parts of his resume.

The first-term congressman from New York, whose 2022 election win helped the Republican Party secure a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, is accused in Brazil of using a stolen checkbook to buy some $700 in merchandise from a store in 2008, according to local media.

It is the latest in a mounting pile of legal woes for the 34-year-old, who also faces a criminal investigation in New York after admitting he lied about graduating from university, working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and otherwise “embellishing” his resume.

“The Rio de Janeiro state prosecutor’s office has requested to reopen the case,” the office said in an e-mail to AFP.

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The case had been archived because investigators were unable to locate Santos.

But “the accused has now been elected to Congress in the United States, meaning he has a verified address,” the prosecutor’s office said.

It said it had filed a petition Tuesday to reopen the case with a criminal court in Niteroi, a city outside Rio where the alleged crime occurred.

Santos was not immediately reachable for comment.

He would face up to five years in prison if convicted in Brazil, which has an extradition treaty with the United States — though prosecutors said as a first-time offender he would be eligible for an alternative sentence, such as community service.

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The son of Brazilian immigrants, Santos has ties to the South American country that are among the aspects of his life story under scrutiny.

Prosecutors said they were unable to determine whether he had Brazilian citizenship.

He has said his grandparents were European Jews who fled “Stalin’s persecution” and then Hitler’s Nazis to emigrate to Brazil.

But after US media investigations questioned his claim he was Jewish and found his grandparents were in fact born in Brazil, he told the New York Post: “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”

An investigation in the New York Times meanwhile raised questions over how Santos was able to lend his campaign $700,000 after claiming on a financial filing in 2020 that he was making $55,000 a year.

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International

White House says Cuba policy unchanged despite sanctioned fuel shipment

The White House said Monday that it has not changed its policy toward Cuba, despite allowing a sanctioned Russian oil tanker to deliver fuel to the island on humanitarian grounds.

U.S. officials emphasized that the decision was made as an exception and does not signal a broader shift in policy.

The administration added that similar decisions would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, depending on humanitarian considerations.

The clarification comes amid ongoing restrictions related to U.S. sanctions policy, which continue to limit trade and financial flows involving Cuba.

International

Spain to grant citizenship to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López

The Spanish government is expected to grant citizenship this Tuesday to Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lópezthrough an extraordinary procedure known as “carta de naturaleza.”

The decision will be approved by royal decree, an exceptional legal mechanism used in special cases that require expedited resolution due to specific circumstances.

López has been living in Madrid since 2020, after leaving Venezuela following a prolonged political and legal conflict with the government of Nicolás Maduro.

According to government sources, López currently does not have a valid Venezuelan passport and faces difficulties in having his nationality fully recognized in his home country.

As a result, he applied for Spanish citizenship via a fast-track process at the end of 2025, after previously attempting to obtain it through regular procedures.

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The Spanish government justified the move based on López’s international relevance and foreign policy considerations.

López is the leader of the Voluntad Popular party and co-founder of the World Liberty Congress, an initiative launched in 2022 alongside figures such as Garry Kasparov and Masih Alinejad.

International

ICE to remain at airports amid DHS shutdown, Homan says

The U.S. “border czar,” Tom Homan, said Sunday that agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will remain deployed at airports until operations return to “100% normal,” as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues.

“We will maintain ICE presence until airports feel they are fully back to normal operations,” Homan said during an interview on Face the Nation on CBS.

Homan justified the deployment on security grounds, noting that the measure was ordered by President Donald Trumpamid widespread absenteeism among agents of the Transportation Security Administration, who have gone without pay for over six weeks due to the DHS shutdown.

According to acting TSA administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, at least 460 TSA agents have resigned during the shutdown, while daily absenteeism has averaged 11%, exceeding 50% at some airports.

Homan warned that if TSA staffing levels do not recover after the shutdown, ICE agents will continue filling the gap. “ICE is there to support our TSA brothers and sisters. We will remain as long as needed to ensure airport security,” he said.

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The DHS shutdown reached 44 days on Sunday, making it the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The impasse stems from disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over ICE funding.

A recent bipartisan Senate proposal to fund DHS without including ICE failed after being blocked by House Republicans, who insist on full funding for the agency.

Amid the deadlock, Trump signed an executive order directing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to immediately pay TSA agents to address what he called an “emergency situation” and restore order at airports, with payments expected to begin Monday.