International
Justice gives a pause to the trial of Trump for the assault on the Capitol
Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed this Friday to give a pause to the trial facing Donald Trump in Washington for the assault on the Capitol to give time to the special prosecutor, Jack Smith, to evaluate how to proceed after the Republican’s victory in Tuesday’s elections.
The magistrate authorized the suspension of the pending deadlines and the Government to present by December 2 its deliberations on the way forward in this criminal case, as requested by Smith.
His petition states that he needs the remaining deadlines to be annulled to determine “the appropriate path” in line with the policies of the Department of Justice, which prevent investigating presidents while they are in office.
The accusation
Trump, who beat Kamala Harris on Tuesday, and will be invested on January 20, is accused in the District of Columbia for his attempts to reverse the results of the elections he lost in 2020 and having allegedly instigated the assault on the Capitol.
The request recalls that, as a result of those elections, it is expected that Trump’s victory will be certified on January 6 and that the investiture will take place on the 20th of that month.
Smith stressed that the prosecutor’s office has consulted with the defense lawyers and pointed out that they have not opposed the pause.
The prosecutor will present a report on the Trump case for the assault on the Capitol
According to The New York Times, Smith had already started discussions with members of the Department of Justice on how to move forward after the elections in the two federal cases against Trump: the assault on the Capitol and the accusation in Florida for having taken classified documents from the White House when leaving power.
The Republican said during the election campaign that on his first day as president he would fire Prosecutor Smith and order the Department of Justice to close the cases against him that, he claims, are motivated by political persecution.
On November 21, Trump’s lawyers were scheduled to present their documentation to the judge on why he should not be tried in Washington after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents enjoy broad judicial immunity.
Smith indicated in his note that by December 2 he can submit a report with the result of his deliberations.
The special prosecutor has not yet requested a pause in the process in Florida. That case was dismissed on July 15, but Smith claimed on August 26 to a court of appeals that it be restored.
The messes of the future US president with the Justice
Trump faces four parallel criminal trials: those two federal and two others in local courts in New York and Georgia.
The only one where there is a conviction is the one he has in New York for falsification of commercial records to cover up a payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair in the past, to prevent it from harming him in his 2016 campaign.
The goal of Trump’s team, according to NBC News this week, is to dismiss all cases against him. In New York, the possibility of postponing the hearing scheduled for the end of November indefinitely is also contemplated.
According to the US Constitution, a president cannot forgive himself in a state accusation, as happens in New York, and in the case of Georgia, where he is accused of electoral interference, the governor could not pardon him either.
NBC News pointed out that the Department of Justice seems to have assumed that neither the process in Washington nor the Florida process can take place in the near future and now after the elections it sees no room to continue with them.
Central America
Guatemalan suspect wanted for human smuggling network that transported 20,000 migrants
The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala has called for public assistance on social media to find and capture a Guatemalan man suspected of being involved in a human smuggling ring that transported 20,000 migrants to the United States. This comes as President Donald Trump continues his crackdown on irregular migration.
Helmer Obispo Hernández, who “is believed to be in Guatemala,” is accused of being “part of a people smuggling network,” the embassy stated on social media platform X, providing a link to report “any information about” the man.
Hernández, 41, is a “lieutenant” in the “criminal organization” led by Guatemalan Eduardo Renoj, who was arrested a few days ago in California, according to U.S. authorities.
Renoj is accused of leading “one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the U.S.,” the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement on Monday.
Along with Renoj, 49-year-old Cristóbal Mejía, his “alleged right-hand man,” was also arrested.
Migrants smuggled from Guatemala reportedly paid between $15,000 and $18,000 to the ring, the embassy said.
Renoj’s organization is linked to a 2023 traffic accident in Oklahoma that resulted in seven deaths, including a four-year-old child. The driver of the vehicle involved is in custody.
“Identifying and dismantling these organizations makes our borders safer and creates a stronger and more prosperous region,” the U.S. embassy stated.
Guatemalan authorities have not provided any updates on Obispo as of now.
Like much of Central America, Guatemala was part of the route used by thousands of migrants to reach the United States, which has tightened its immigration policies since Trump returned to the presidency in January.
In recent weeks, there has been a reverse trend of migrants heading south through Central America after abandoning their plans to reach the U.S. due to fears of being deported.
International
U.S. and Mexico intensify border security measures amid ongoing migration crisis
On the U.S. side of the border, soldiers are placing barbed wire along the massive border wall, while on the Mexican side, troops have set up a camp on the edge of a mountain. In both cases, the goal is the same: to close off any gaps for irregular migration.
The military presence on this 3,100 km border was strengthened after Donald Trump returned to power, declaring the region a “state of emergency” and pressuring Mexico to deploy an additional 10,000 soldiers.
These efforts seem to be yielding results, according to figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which reported a 65% decrease in migrant interceptions in January compared to the same month in 2024.
“If there were a hundred crossings a day before, now it’s no more than five. Yesterday, there were none,” says a Mexican National Guard officer during a patrol in the impoverished mountainous area of Nido de las Águilas, where the metal fence weaves through much of Tijuana.
The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, attributes these results to the “coordination” between CBP and the Mexican National Guard, including a WhatsApp group where both forces share data, photos, and videos from their operations.
For Mexico, containing migration and the trafficking of fentanyl to the U.S. is crucial—issues Trump uses to justify the 25% tariff on exports from both Mexico and Canada, its partners in the USMCA trade agreement.
However, the offensive against migrants, which includes the deportation of individuals who fled poverty, violence, and authoritarian governments to reach the U.S., was not enough to prevent the tariff from taking effect this week.
Even worse, Trump has declared a “war” on drug cartels, which he labels as “terrorists,” and whose crackdown was intensified by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
International
Prosecutor orders investigation into potential ties between Milei and Libra crypto collapse
Argentine federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano has ordered an investigation into the phone records of individuals implicated in the Libra cryptocurrency scandal, including the country’s president, Javier Milei, to determine if there were any communications between them.
Sources involved in the investigation confirmed to the Argentine newspaper La Nación that Taiano is already analyzing the data to establish whether there were any call exchanges among key figures linked to the launch of the virtual currency. The cryptocurrency saw exponential growth after Milei mentioned it on social media, only to collapse shortly afterward, potentially leading to fraud charges.
To advance the probe, authorities have requested the collaboration of the Directorate of Technical Assistance for Criminal Investigation (Datip), a department within the Prosecutor’s Office, as they previously did with the Specialized Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Unit.
According to the prosecutor, the investigation is focused on potential crimes, including abuse of authority, fraud, influence peddling, and bribery. The judiciary has requested information from Argentina’s Central Bank and companies such as Google in an effort to determine the cryptocurrency’s origin and the role of Milei and five businessmen in its rise and downfall, La Nación reported.
Milei has faced over a hundred legal complaints following his promotion of the cryptocurrency, which later collapsed, causing significant financial losses for investors. Plaintiffs have cited statements from one of Libra’s partners, businessman Hayden Mark Davies, who acknowledged having served as an advisor to Milei and claimed that the president “endorsed and promoted” the project.
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