International
Lula slams far-right ‘terrorism’ as Brazil clears protest camps
January 10 | By AFP | Ramon Sahmkow|
Brazilian security forces cleared protest camps Monday and arrested 1,500 people as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned “acts of terrorism” after a far-right mob stormed the seat of power, unleashing chaos on the capital.
Hundreds of soldiers and police mobilized to dismantle an improvised camp outside the army’s headquarters in Brasilia.
There, some 3,000 supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro had set up tents — used as a base for the sea of protesters who ran riot inside the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court for around four hours Sunday.
Lula, who took office on January 1 after a bitterly divisive election win over Bolsonaro, returned to work in the pillaged presidential palace, where AFP reporters saw the wreckage that remained of the previous day’s havoc: trashed artwork and offices, shattered windows and doors, broken glass strewn across the floor, and furniture dragged into a reflecting pool.
Lula, the 77-year-old veteran leftist who previously led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, met with the leaders of both houses of Congress and the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and joined them in condemning what many called the South American country’s version of the US Capitol riots in Washington two years ago.
“The three powers of the republic, the defenders of democracy and the constitution, reject the terrorist acts and criminal, coup-mongering vandalism that occurred,” they said in a joint statement.
Lula accepted an invitation to meet with President Joe Biden next month in Washington, US officials said.
Bolsonaro, who narrowly lost the October elections, meanwhile said on Twitter that he had been hospitalized in Florida with abdominal pains stemming from a near-fatal knife attack when he was campaigning for the presidency in 2018.
Bolsonaro has alleged he is the victim of a conspiracy against him by Brazil’s courts and electoral authorities.
The ex-president, dubbed the “Tropical Trump,” traveled to Orlando on the second-to-last day of his term — snubbing Lula’s inauguration, in a break with tradition.
Bolsonaro, 67, took to Twitter Sunday night to condemn the “pillaging” in Brasilia, but rejected Lula’s claim he incited the attacks, and defended the right to “peaceful protests.”
‘Traces of Trumpism’
As the nation continued to come to grips with Sunday’s stunning violence, hundreds of people gathered along a major avenue in downtown Sao Paulo to defend Brazilian democracy and demand punishment for the people who stormed the halls of power a day earlier.
“I have not endured what I have in this life to see what I saw yesterday — my people, my country, divided in such a way,” said Edi Valladares, a 61 year old teacher.
The demonstrators included young people, entire families, labor union activists, anti-racism advocates and others, with banners reading “We are with Lula and for democracy” and “Respect for the people’s vote.”
Earlier in the day, large contingents of riot police deployed to lock down the capital’s Three Powers Square, home to the iconic modernist buildings that serve as the headquarters of the three branches of government.
Condemnation continued to pour in from around the world, with Pope Francis criticizing the unrest as a sign of “weakening of democracy” in the Americas.
In a joint statement ahead of summit talks in Mexico City, Biden, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the attacks and said they “stand with Brazil as it safeguards its democratic institutions.”
In a show of firm support, Biden spoke with Lula by phone Monday and invited him to visit the White House in early February. The Brazilian leader accepted, the White House said.
Biden told Lula of his support for “the free will of the Brazilian people as expressed in Brazil’s recent presidential election, which President Lula won,” the White House said in a statement.
Many drew the inevitable comparison to January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-US president Donald Trump invaded the Capitol in Washington in a violent, failed bid to stop Congress from certifying his election loss.
Investigation begins
Lula, who was in the southeastern city of Araraquara visiting a flood-hit region when the riot started, signed a decree Sunday declaring a federal intervention in Brasilia, giving his government special powers over the local police force to restore law and order in the capital.
His government vowed to find and arrest those who planned and financed the attacks.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha, a Bolsonaro ally, from his post for 90 days, on grounds of “criminal negligence.”
Moraes also ordered the security forces to disperse anti-government protests outside military bases nationwide.
Hardline Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting outside army barracks calling for a military intervention to keep Lula from power since his election win.
Following the ruling, soldiers and police broke up camps in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, as well as Brasilia.
Lula narrowly won the October 30 runoff election by a score of 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent.
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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