El Salvador judge orders detention of prominent lawyer Ruth Lopez
SAN SALVADOR, June 4 (Reuters) - A judge in El Salvador ordered the provisional detention of prominent lawyer Ruth Lopez, human rights group Cristosal said on Wednesday.
Lopez, a well-known human rights and anti-corruption advocate, was arrested by Salvadoran authorities last month over allegations of embezzlement during her time as a state official.
She left Wednesday's hearing shouting that she was innocent and said she had now been charged with illicit enrichment.
"I am a political prisoner. All the charges are because of my legal work, due to my denunciation of corruption in this government," Lopez added.
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BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Spain: Embattled Sánchez resists clamour for resignation
Seven years after taking office by ousting corruption-ridden conservatives from government, Pedro Sánchez is fighting for his political life amid investigations into alleged graft in his Socialist party (PSOE).On June 12, an ashen-faced prime minister apologised to Spaniards after audio gathered by civil guard investigators was made public and appeared to show the PSOE secretary, Santos Cerdán, discussing commissions paid by companies in exchange for public contracts.Sánchez has not himself been directly implicated, but the Socialist leader who came to power promising to clean up politics is now facing calls to resign from an invigorated who was party number three, has resigned from the PSOE and stepped down as a member of parliament. He is due to appear before the Supreme Court on 25 June. He maintains he has never committed a crime nor been implicit in one. The investigation into commissions is part of an ongoing probe which has already implicated José Luis Ábalos, a former PSOE secretary and transport minister. A third person implicated is Koldo García, an advisor to Ábalos. Both men featured with Cerdán in the recently exposed audio. All three say they have done nothing investigation into Ábalos, which began last year, was damaging for the government but his exit from the cabinet and the PSOE secretary post in 2021 put distance between him and Sánchez. However, the implication of Cerdán is more problematic.Sánchez had repeatedly defended him in the face of claims in the right-wing media over recent months that he was under investigation, and the prime minister even accused the opposition of "slandering honest people" when asked about Cerdán's activities last party secretary, from the northern region of Navarre, was a trusted confidant of the prime minister, playing a crucial role, for example, in negotiating the support of Catalan nationalists to allow the formation of a new government in acknowledging that he "should not have trusted" Cerdán, Sánchez has insisted that he will see out the legislature, which is due to end in a letter to PSOE members he apologised again, while doubling down."There are many issues that affect the lives of the majority – healthcare, housing, pensions, jobs, fighting climate change and defending equality – and for which it is worth fighting still," he wrote. "Challenges that are not solved with headlines or lynchings."However, the opposition has presented the investigation as symptomatic of a corrupt regime, pointing to other probes affecting Sánchez and his circle.A judge has been investigating the prime minister's wife, Begoña Gómez, for possible business irregularities - and his musician brother, David, is due to go on trial for alleged influence peddling in taking up a public post in the south-western city of Badajoz. Meanwhile, the Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, is also likely to face trial for revealing confidential details of a tax evader. All three deny wrongdoing. Sánchez and his supporters have cast these three affairs as part of a campaign orchestrated by the conservative People's Party (PP), the far-right Vox, right-wing media and factions within the judiciary. A number of judicial experts have expressed surprise at the zeal with which the investigations have been carried a raucous parliamentary session this week, opposition MPs chanted "Dimisión" (Resign) at the prime minister, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the PP, accused him of being "a wolf who has led a corrupt pack".Paco Camas, head of public opinion in Spain for polling firm Ipsos, sees a Sánchez resignation as "political suicide" for his party, because it would almost certainly trigger elections, allowing the PP to form a government, probably with the support of Vox."The overall trend right now is a demobilised electorate on the left, particularly for the Socialist party, and an enormous mobilisation of voters on the right, which is capitalising on the discontent with the government," Camas the Socialist president of the Castilla-La Mancha region, Emiliano García-Page, has warned that "there is no dignified way out" for the as long as Sánchez can keep his fragile parliamentary majority of left-wing and nationalist parties together there is little the opposition can do to bring him that end, the prime minister has been frantically trying to reassure these allies, many of who have voiced outrage at the Cerdán-Ábalos scandal. Camas believes that persuading them to support a 2026 budget could be a way for Sánchez to buy some such plans could be left in tatters were more explosive revelations to emerge, as many in the Socialist party worries will be playing on Sánchez's mind as he heads to the Nato summit in The an assured presence on the international stage, he will arrive with serious doubts about his future and under mounting pressure to raise Spain's defence his government has promised to increase military spending to 2% of economic output this year, it has been resisting calls from the United States and the Nato leadership to raise it further. Sánchez has now refused to accept a target of 5% of GDP for military spending, saying it "would not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive".
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Democrat posts ad showing non-white citizens being kidnapped by Republicans
Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Jump to content Sign up to our newslettersSubscribe: 1€ for 6 months News Sport Voices Culture Lifestyle IndyBest Deals Travel 00:35 A Democrat lawmaker posted a disturbing ad depicting a non-white citizen being kidnapped by Republicans, captioned, 'Trump's America.' California Rep. Eric Swalwell posted the ad, made by Progress Action Fund, to X on Wednesday (18 June). The video shows a white man and a non-white woman talking outside before the woman is suddenly grabbed by masked men meant to resemble ICE agents. The man demands answers, and is confronted by a lawmaker who says, 'I'm your Republican Congressman. Now that we're in charge, we're rounding up illegals.' When the man angrily responds that the woman was born in the US, the lawmaker replies, 'I don't care, she looks like one of them.' The Republican then promises that the woman will have 'lots of company' in the El Salvador prison she's going to. The ad closes with a purported quote of Donald Trump's from an April 14 visit with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele: 'The homegrowns are next.' 00:46 00:55 00:59 00:24 12:25 17:05 03:25 07:30 07:35 10:44 07:06 07:42 14:11 12:18 30:24 16:08 17:41 18:22 13:43 12:41 05:35 08:02 06:42 05:23 07:08 05:03 09:53 07:25 07:30 07:54 05:23 05:35 09:47 06:28 06:23 07:35 08:03 11:54 08:21 06:38 07:25 04:31 07:30 03:34 17:05 03:51 04:18 06:26 04:30 03:35 03:45 07:34 02:03 03:22 02:15 02:22 02:21 01:43 01:42 01:45 10:44 03:44 07:42 09:22 06:11 07:50 06:21 02:19 10:42 06:27 07:23 06:35 More Behind The Headlines 12:18 11:50 09:03 13:07 00:43 01:02 00:49 00:34 00:36 00:39 00:57 00:34 00:49 00:33 01:00 00:31 00:54 01:08 01:35 00:47 00:37 00:21 00:41 00:34 00:57 00:32 00:47 01:40 01:01 01:03 00:41 00:23 00:38 00:24 00:19 00:50 03:29 03:07 03:07 03:24 01:36 00:42 01:26 00:32 00:31 02:00 00:40 00:58 04:23 04:26 01:01 01:07 15:55 16:33 16:06 15:01 15:16 01:16 00:36 00:48 01:08 More Saudi Green Initiative 01:12 01:23 01:24 Live Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
They planned to seek asylum. Trump's policies have left them stranded at the US-Mexico border
Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration upended lives on inauguration day when he abruptly closed the border for many who were just on the Mexican side of the border planning to cross into the US legally. Five months on, some hold on to hope, others are giving up. A family from El Salvador seeking asylum was left stranded at the border within sight of Texas only three days into the second Trump administration. A grandfather, his daughter, his niece, her husband and two of his grandchildren had done things 'the right way', by requesting one of the highly limited appointments with US Border Patrol, from the Mexican side using the Biden-era mobile phone app called CBPOne. But on January 20, Trump signed an executive order cancelling all scheduled appointments, including theirs on 23 January at noon. Trump crushed the family's access to seek asylum, along with their dreams – and those of 30,000 other migrants who had been given prized appointments through the app. Many of them were fleeing combinations of extreme violence, authoritarianism and poverty in El Salvador, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela or within Mexico. The Salvadoran family was turned back by US officials on the international bridge connecting Reynosa in northern Mexico to McAllen in south Texas. Bewildered and upset, they did not know where to turn. That was when they ran into a local pastor, Hector Silva, who runs two migrant shelters in Reynosa, known as Senda de Vida 1 and 2, that together can hold up to 5,000 people. He took the family under his wing. Their names are being withheld so as not to jeopardize their safety. 'In El Salvador we will always be at risk since our brother was killed by gang members,' said one of the women. He was murdered back in 2014 when he was 18. 'My father recently worked as an Uber driver but he was being extorted,' she added. And she herself had been unemployed. Shelters like Silva's were overcrowded a few years ago, but as centrist Democratic president Joe Biden swung further right on immigration and tightened access, numbers dropped. With Trump's even harder line, numbers have dwindled further. By April, only about 200 people were staying at Silva's shelters. The pastor founded his first shelter on a landfill site in Reynosa almost 30 years ago. Over the years he has heard stories of husbands being murdered, daughters being raped, and extortion payments from criminal gangs in their home regions that were too expensive to pay. 'These families need to migrate to protect themselves and their loved ones,' he said. While he respects the US's pledge to secure the border, he urges the administration to loosen its policies, especially for the right to request asylum. 'Many of these families are good people who deserve an opportunity,' he said. Across the courtyard, Karina, a Mexican woman from the state of Chiapas mopped the floor in front of her dorm, while her eight-year-old son slurped on a bowl of Fruit Loops cereal. Together, they had crossed the entire country to escape threats of cartel violence and organ trafficking in their community. 'Everything was complicated. So we had to flee before anything happened to us,' she said when the Guardian visited in April. Karina had already been at the shelter for eight months waiting for a US appointment, trying the controversial app daily. Such a wait, or longer, was not uncommon, exposing those waiting to the dangers that stalk some parts of the border, particularly from cartel kidnappings for ransom. Waiting was better than nothing, however. But then the US government app stopped working before the authorities got back to her. According to Gretchen Kuhner, the director of the Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI), a Mexican non-profit that supports migrant women, Karina was far from alone in fleeing violence within Mexico, joining a growing number of people seeking safety elsewhere. 'Lots of people think Mexicans are economic migrants. But they don't realize the number of people from Mexico who were applying to CBPOne,' Kuhner said. 'The Mexican government does not want to talk about' the violence driving migration, she said. Karina was racked with uncertainty. 'We don't know what will happen. Or if we will be able to cross,' she said when she talked to the Guardian in April. She saw herself working in a US packaging warehouse or in a shop, making a new life. 'If God lets me cross to the United States, I know I will have the ability and intelligence to learn,' she said. The father of her child had been expecting them in Virginia, she said, dejectedly. Immigration advocates clarify that the drop in migration and empty shelters have been created by US immigration policy, not because the risks and needs in countries of origin are any less dire. Andrés Ramirez, the former coordinator of Mexico's Refugee Agency (COMAR), said the numbers of migrants entering Mexico from the south had already dropped considerably in 2024 as Panama cracked down on migration through the Darién Gap. From January to April 2025, a mere 73 people had made the treacherous journey across the jungle, down from 82,000 in August 2023. The 30,000 people whose appointments with US immigration officers were cancelled are now hard to locate. Many are thought to have dispersed across Mexico. Some have been deported by the Mexican government. Others have flocked to cities such as Monterrey or Mexico City in search of work. Many are stuck in desperate conditions in the southern city of Tapachula, bordering Guatemala. And some are applying for asylum in Mexico. But an IMUMI report warns against the country being safe for many migrants seeking protection. Others back at the Senda de Vida shelter have given up on the American dream for now. Wendy, a beautician in her 30s traveling with her son and sister-in-law from Honduras, felt out of options and planned to return home and hope for the best. She would probably turn herself in to Mexican immigration officials who have been busing migrants down south, she said. 'We have never had much financial stability. My son is in school now. I was hoping to have my own business and my own little house in the US,' she said. Some cross without authorization after all. 'People are hiring smugglers at newly inflated rates', or taking more dangerous routes, said Kuhner. Silva, meanwhile, is busy fixing up his shelters. Sooner or later, more migrants will return. 'This is not over. Nor will it end. Migration will continue,' he said. Earlier this month, some who were at the shelter in April had gone back to their countries, some had crossed unlawfully into the US, others had taken off to try their luck in Mexico City. The Salvadoran family was still in Reynosa. The grandfather may return to El Salvador with his grandson through a program with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a United Nations body, despite the risk and having sold their house and car to fund the journey north. Some continued to hope and pray for better fortunes. For those stuck, Silva opened his arms in the modest courtyard with a smile. 'Here you won't want for anything. Even if it is just a tortilla with salt,' he said.
