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Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Charleston immigrant community decries police, ICE raid of SC nightclub
Alejandra De La Vega, pictured on Friday, June 6, 2025, outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston. De La Vega was among those present but not arrested during a June 1 law enforcement raid of Alamo nightclub in Charleston County. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) NORTH CHARLESTON — After law enforcement arrested 80 people during a weekend sting operation at a nightclub in Charleston County, federal immigration officials claimed 'the community at large knew that there was nothing good going on at that establishment.' But for some people present during the 3 a.m. June 1 raid at the Alamo, that simply was not the case. For Alejandra De La Vega, the venue located just outside the town of Summerville, right along the Charleston and Dorchester county line, was a place to dance with friends. 'I went to Alamo to enjoy the night, just like many others,' she told reporters Friday. 'But instead of fun, it turned into fear and humiliation.' De La Vega had just stepped out of the restroom when she said police stormed in, guns drawn. Patrons were running and screaming, she said, as more officers streamed in and ordered people to the ground. 'It was chaos,' she said at the news conference outside the Lonnie Hamilton Public Services Building in North Charleston. County, state and federal law enforcement held and questioned the more than 200 people present at the club during the raid, dubbed 'Operation Last Stand,' for two hours, De La Vega said. The S.C. State Law Enforcement Division began investigating Alamo in November 2024 after receiving a tip about potential human trafficking at the venue, agency spokeswoman Renée Wunderlich told the SC Daily Gazette Friday. The Department of Homeland Security also got involved in the investigation at that time, she said. Later Friday, SLED announced criminal charges against two people, the club's 59-year-old owner, Benjamin Reyna-Flores of Hanahan, and a 44-year-old security guard at the club, Terone Lavince Lawson of North Charleston. Reyna-Flores faces multiple charges related to unlawful sale of alcohol. The club had no alcohol license. Lawson faces illegal gun and drug possession charges. According to warrants from SLED, Lawson had 2 grams of meth, an eight ball of cocaine, and less than a gram of psychedelic mushrooms in his van. Police also found a pair of handguns in the van, which Lawson cannot legally possess due to past convictions for burglary in 2008 and assault in 2003. Those arrested include two unidentified 'high-level cartel members' associated with the Mexico-based Los Zetas cartel and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang and one person wanted by Interpol for murder in Honduras, said U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent Cardell Morant. Ten juveniles as young as 13 — including one reported as missing — as well as an unidentified number of potential human trafficking victims were at the club at the time of the raid. Law enforcement also reported seizing guns, cocaine and cash. In her retelling of events, De La Vega said police separated anyone with visible tattoos and photographed them. De La Vega, a transgender Latina woman who has lived in the United States since 2001, said officers questioned the validity of her state-issued I.D. card, as well as that of the transgender woman she was there with. De La Vega has legal residency status in the U.S. She was not arrested. But 80% of those arrested Sunday did not have legal status to be in the country. The vast majority were arrested on civil immigration charges, not criminal violations. Five people were arrested for criminal offenses, Morant said. Homeland Security confirmed to The Post & Courier that Sergio Joel Galo-Baca is the Honduran man wanted for international homicide. Beyond SLED's announcement Friday, no other names or list of charges have been released. Homeland Security officials have not responded to emails sent by the SC Daily Gazette. 'The narrative that's been put out by the sheriff, by the governor, by the attorney general, is that they are just trying to stop violent criminals, stop trafficking,' said Will McCorkle, a member of the Charleston Immigrant Coalition. 'But what they quickly overlook are the many innocent people that were detained and are now in the process of deportation for no real purpose.' Now, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, several families do not know where their family members are. They have searched their names online using Immigration and Customs Enforcement's database that people can use to locate the state and center where detainees are being held. But their family members' names have not shown up in the search, said Dulce Lopez, immigrant rights advocacy strategist for the ACLU. They can only assume, based on news reports, that their family members are at an ICE holding facility in Folkston, Georgia. 'That made me realize, how easily everything can be taken away,' De La Vega said. 'I keep thinking, what if I didn't have a legal status? What if I were detained and ripped away from my family?' 'My mom is my hero,' De La Vega continued. 'She came to this country and gave me and my siblings a better life. She raised us with love and sacrifice and with so much strength. We're really close, and I don't know what I would do if I was taken from her. No one should have lived with that fear.' Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie, during a news conference Monday, cited noise complaints at the club and reports of assaults in the parking lot. Outside of Sunday's raid, the sheriff's department responded to the club 13 other times since 2020 for calls including 'suspicious circumstances,' vandalism and one armed robbery, according to a call log provided by the department. Area business owners said their biggest issue in the last several months had been club goers parking on the side of the highway and in their parking lots after the club's lot filled up, leaving behind excessive trash and beer bottles after nearly every weekend. The nightclub did not have a license to sell alcohol. A group of faith and immigrant community leaders stressed that they do not condone criminal activity. 'But no one deserves to be treated as guilty by association,' said Lopez, of the ACLU. People have reason to be afraid, McCorckle said, citing the recent case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Living in Maryland, Garcia had been protected from deportation by a 2019 judge's ruling that he likely faced gang persecution in his home country. The Trump administration has insisted Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, which Garcia denied. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Garcia was back in U.S. custody to face criminal charges in Tennessee related to human smuggling.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
SC police, ICE arrest 80 people in raid of unlicensed Charleston County nightclub
Local, state and federal law enforcement gather Monday, June 2, 2025, to announce arrests during a raid of a Summerville-area nightclub a day earlier. (Left to right, front row): State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel, Gov. Henry McMaster, Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie and Attorney General Alan Wilson. (Screenshot of Charleston County Sheriff's Office livestream) Two alleged cartel members and one person wanted by Interpol for murder in Honduras were among at least 80 people arrested during a weekend sting operation at an unlicensed nightclub in Charleston County. Federal, state and local law enforcement raided the Alamo nightclub, located in an industrial area outside the town of Summerville, around 3 a.m. Sunday. The club had no license to operate or to sell alcohol. About 200 people were there at the time of the raid. The investigation, dubbed 'Operation Last Stand,' continues, Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie said during a news conference Monday. They included 10 juveniles as young as 13 — including one reported as missing — as well as potential human trafficking victims. They were turned over to social service agencies. Officers also seized guns, cocaine and cash, Ritchie said, without giving details on the amounts. Those arrested included two people believed to be 'high-level cartel members' associated with the Mexico-based Los Zetas cartel and the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, said U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent Cardell Morant. He referred to the club scene as a 'cartel afterparty.' More than 80% of those arrested are living in the United States illegally, he said. The law enforcement agencies went in with 116 warrants for 80 people. Five people were arrested for criminal offenses, Morant said. Law enforcement officials did not provide names of those arrested or a list of charges. 'Some of these individuals have been charged with serious offenses,' which include the person wanted internationally for murder, Morant said. Other charges made in the raid include 'assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and a felon in possession of a firearm,' he said. The investigation began in November with officers looking into noise complaints and reports of assaults occurring in the parking lot, Ritchie said. 'Bad guys like to celebrate too. So, this was their way to let off some steam, and they were, unfortunately, doing it right here in the community,' Morant said. 'This operation was not only about immigration enforcement. It was also about restoring order, removing threats from our streets and ensuring the safety and well-being of Charleston-area residents,' he added. About a dozen local, state and federal agencies participated in the raid. 'We will continue to work to bring justice to those that have been victimized and also bring those to justice that have violated our laws,' said State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel.
Chicago Tribune
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Many Venezuelan voters, frustrated and disillusioned, skip election
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans still reeling from the outcome of last year's presidential election did not respond Sunday to government calls to get out and vote for lawmakers, governors and other officials. That left voting centers practically empty at times and put officials on the defensive. The election, which the political opposition urged people to boycott, was the first to allow broad voter participation since the presidential contest that President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won last year despite credible evidence to the contrary. It took place two days after the government detained dozens of people, including a prominent opposition leader, and linked them to an alleged plot to hinder the vote. Members of the military throughout the day outnumbered voters at many polling centers in the capital, Caracas, where no lines formed outside in stark contrast with the enthusiasm of the July presidential election, when some people lined up for hours. But senior government officials insisted polling centers saw such overwhelming participation on Sunday that they had to remain open past the scheduled 12 hours of operation. Electoral authorities said 42.66% of registered voters cast ballots across the country. Some 21.4 million people were registered, meaning the National Electoral Council claimed that about 9.12 million voters participated. Voter participation, in the eyes of the opposition, legitimizes Maduro's claim to power and his government's repressive apparatus, which after the July presidential election detained more than 2,000 people including protesters, poll workers, political activists and minors, to quash dissent. 'I'm not going to vote,' truck driver Carlos León, 41, said standing near a desolate polling station in downtown Caracas. 'I don't believe in the (electoral authority). I don't think they'll respect the vote. Nobody forgets what happened in the presidential elections. It's sad, but it's true.' A nationwide poll conducted between April 29 and May 4 by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that only 15.9% of voters expressed a high probability of voting Sunday. Of those, 74.2% said they would vote for the candidates of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its allies, while 13.8% said they would vote for contenders associated with two opposition leaders who are not boycotting the elections. 'Today, we witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world,' Edmundo González, who is recognized by the United States and several other countries as the winner of the July presidential election, posted on X. 'What the world saw today was an act of civic courage. A silent but powerful declaration that the desire for change, dignity, and a future remains intact,' he added. Opposition leaders chose González, a retired diplomat, as the faction's presidential candidate because the government banned primary winner Maria Corina Machado from running for office. González has been in exile since September to avoid arrest and, for the same reason, Machado has not been seen in public since January. Machado's close ally, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was among 70 people detained Friday for alleged anti-government activities. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello linked Guanipa to an alleged 'terrorist group' plotting to disturb Sunday's vote. Guanipa's brother, Tomás, rejected the accusation and said the arrest was punishment for 'thinking differently' from the government. The ruling party-loyal National Electoral Council oversaw Sunday's election for state legislators, 285 members of the unicameral National Assembly and all 24 governors, including the newly created governorship purportedly established to administer Essequibo, a region long under dispute between Venezuela and neighboring Guyana. Among the members of the opposition who were on Sunday's ballot were twice-failed presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who won a seat in the National Assembly, and former lawmaker Juan Requesens, who lost his bid for governor. Requesens spent years in prison after authorities accused him of participating in a failed drone attack against Maduro. The electoral body reported that the ruling party won 23 of the 24 gubernatorial races. Maduro's party also kept control of the National Assembly. Maduro after voting said the electronic polling process is 'very fast and very easy,' seemingly justifying the lack of lines at polling centers. His ruling-party ally, Gov. Freddy Bernal, explained the apparent low turnout similarly. 'We won't see long lines because the process is very fast,' Bernal, who was reelected governor of the state of Táchira, told state television. Maduro also criticized opposition factions who asked people not to vote. 'What did they win? They lost everything,' Maduro said three times regarding previous opposition boycotts. 'They — the ones running that campaign — are nothing, and Venezuela continues its course.' The ruling party controls 19 governorships and more than 90% of the National Assembly seats. But in Maduro's Venezuela, regional elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, have limited impact on people's lives because his highly centralized government controls practically everything from Caracas. The government also represses the opposition by, for instance, disqualifying a candidate after the election or appointing a ruling-party loyalist to oversee the elected offices held by opponents, rendering them powerless. Further, after the opposition won control of the National Assembly in 2015, Maduro created an election for members of a Constituent Assembly in 2017. That body, controlled by the ruling party, decreed itself superior to all other branches of government until it ceased to exist in 2020. On Sunday, state television showed daylight footage of voters gathered at some polling centers outside Caracas, including from Indigenous communities where people traveled by boat and defied heavy rains to vote. In a working-class neighborhood in the capital, the National Guard placed three armored personnel carriers, but by midday, the nearest voting center had no visible activity and soldiers were looking at their cellphones while they sheltered from the sun. Meanwhile, voters at a polling place in downtown Caracas said they cast ballots out of fear of losing their government jobs or food and other state-controlled benefits. And in an opposition stronghold, some ignored the boycott calls believing that voting is their civic duty, while others saw the election as a chance to keep their local government under opposition control. 'I'm defending my municipality,' said Edith, the owner of a bankrupt family business who declined to give her last name out of fear of government reprisals. 'I'm still angry with what happened in July, but I have to defend it.'
Euronews
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Sweeping victory for ruling party announced in Venezuela's elections
Venezuela's ruling party retained its significant majority in Sunday's regional and parliamentary elections, which were largely boycotted by opposition groups protesting the government of President Nicolás Maduro and his contested re-election last year. Maduro's United Socialist Party of Venezuela won nearly 83% of the vote, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), which is widely seen as loyal to the ruling party. They also reportedly secured 23 of 24 state governorships. The political opposition, led by figurehead María Corina Machado, had urged voters to boycott the election, calling it a "farce" designed to legitimise authoritarian rule. Maduro dismissed the boycott. "What did they win? They lost everything," he said regarding previous opposition boycotts. "They - the ones running that campaign - are nothing, and Venezuela continues its course." Electoral authorities reported a turnout of 42.66% among the country's 21.4 million registered voters, which would indicate approximately 9.12 million ballots cast. Just two days before the vote, the government arrested at least 70 people it claimed were involved in a plot to obstruct the election. Among those arrested was former National Assembly Vice President and opposition leader, Juan Pablo Guanipa. This was the first nationwide vote with broad voter eligibility since Maduro declared victory in the 2024 presidential election, a result widely questioned by international observers and many Venezuelans. A nationwide poll conducted between 29 April-4 May by the Venezuela-based firm Delphos found that only 15.9% of voters had expressed a strong likelihood of participating in the regional elections. Among those who said they would vote, 74.2% supported Maduro's party and its allies, while just 13.8% favoured two opposition candidates who chose not to boycott. More than 2,000 people, including protesters, election workers, and political activists, have been arrested since Maduro's disputed re-election, according to human rights groups.
Arab Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Many Venezuelan voters, frustrated, skip election for lawmakers and governors
CARACAS, Venezuela, May 26, (AP): Venezuelans still reeling from the outcome of last year's presidential election did not respond Sunday to government calls to get out and vote for lawmakers, governors and other officials. That left voting centers practically empty at times and put officials on the defensive. The election, which the political opposition urged people to boycott, was the first to allow broad voter participation since the presidential contest that President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won last year despite credible evidence to the contrary. It took place two days after the government detained dozens of people, including a prominent opposition leader, and linked them to an alleged plot to hinder the vote. Members of the military throughout the day outnumbered voters at many polling centers in the capital, Caracas, where no lines formed outside in stark contrast with the enthusiasm of the July presidential election, when some people lined up for hours. But senior government officials insisted polling centers saw such overwhelming participation on Sunday that they had to remain open past the scheduled 12 hours of operation. Electoral authorities said 42.66% of registered voters cast ballots across the country. Some 21.4 million people were registered, meaning the National Electoral Council claimed that about 9.12 million voters participated. Voter participation, in the eyes of the opposition, legitimizes Maduro's claim to power and his government's repressive apparatus, which after the July presidential election detained more than 2,000 people including protesters, poll workers, political activists and minors, to quash dissent. "I'm not going to vote,' truck driver Carlos León, 41, said standing near a desolate polling station in downtown Caracas. "I don't believe in the (electoral authority). I don't think they'll respect the vote. Nobody forgets what happened in the presidential elections. It's sad, but it's true.' A nationwide poll conducted between April 29 and May 4 by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that only 15.9% of voters expressed a high probability of voting Sunday. Of those, 74.2% said they would vote for the candidates of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its allies, while 13.8% said they would vote for contenders associated with two opposition leaders who are not boycotting the elections. "Today, we witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world,' Edmundo González, who is recognized by the United States and several other countries as the winner of the July presidential election, posted on X. "What the world saw today was an act of civic courage. A silent but powerful declaration that the desire for change, dignity, and a future remains intact,' he added.
