PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge has ordered a man accused of war crimes and human rights violations while serving as a paramilitary commander during Guatemala’s civil war to return to his native country.

The Providence Journal reports that a judge in Boston on Thursday rejected Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera’s request to remain in the United States. The 67-year-old has lived in Providence, Rhode Island, for 25 years.

He’s accused by the Guatemalan government of being involved in murders and other crimes against indigenous Mayans in the 1980s.

Samayoa’s lawyer argues he’ll be tortured if he returns to Guatemala. Several supporters had sent letters to the judge urging him to allow Samayoa to stay in the U.S.

He has 30 days to decide whether he’ll appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. </s> Accused Guatemalan war criminal Juan Alecio Samayoa Cabrera has been denied bail by an immigration judge in Boston.

Department of Homeland Security attorney Jennifer Mulcahy argued Judge Jose Sanchez did not have the jurisdiction to release Samayoa, citing a law that strips judges of the power to grant bond if the detainee is accused of committing certain war crimes, like torture.

The accusations against the 67-year-old stem from the Guatemalan Civil War, which ran from 1960 to 1996.

“The documentary evidence," Mulcahy said, "shows [Samayoa] did in fact participate himself, order others, and incited extrajudicial killings, as well as acts that would satisfy the definition of torture.”

Authorities in Guatemala say Samayoa is wanted in connection with scores of murders, rapes and kidnappings in 1982 and 1983.

By his own admission, Samayoa led a paramilitary squad of 500 men, siding with the government in a war against guerrilla revolutionaries. He fled Guatemala a decade after taking up arms, entered the U.S. illegally and was denied asylum during the early 2000s.

Samayoa has lived in Providence since the early 1990s, and he was arrested for immigration violations in October. He has refused to comment on the case to WBUR.

On Thursday morning in immigration court, Samayoa’s attorney, Hans Bremer, painted his client as a reasonable actor during a horrible war.

The paramilitary unit "was basically a self-defense group that the neighborhood formed to avoid being slaughtered during the civil war,” Bremer said. “And they protected one another. It was a horrible time, we all know it was a horrible time, your honor."

Bremer claimed it's hard to imagine someone who has led a "wonderful life" absent of violent crime in the U.S., could be capable of the allegations Samayoa faces.

Though Samayoa has been in and out of immigration court since the 1990s, Bremer said this is the first mention of war crimes.

"At no point ... until very recently, did the government ever even insinuate that he had been involved in anything that they're now insinuating," he said.

Judge Sanchez, however, agreed with the prosecution, ruling on Thursday that, due to the nature of the alleged crimes, he lacked the authority to grant Samayoa bond.

Sanchez will later decide whether Samayoa stays in the U.S., or if he leaves to face justice in Guatemala, where authorities say they await his arrival with an arrest warrant.

The next hearing in Samayoa's deportation proceedings is set for Jan. 9. </s> An immigration judge in Boston has ordered the deportation of a Guatemalan immigrant accused of atrocities during the country's civil war.

Five months after Juan Samayoa was arrested by immigration authorities, Judge Jose Sanchez ordered him deported to Guatemala.

Members of Samayoa's family declined to comment to WBUR after Thursday's hearing.

But members of the Guatemalan community in New Bedford and Providence — many of whom originate from the same area in Guatemala where Samayoa is from — were celebrating the judge's decision.

"This is a small spark of justice, for us," said Adrian Ventura, a Mayan community leader in New Bedford, speaking in Spanish in a telephone interview. "I'm usually not in favor of deportations ... but in this case it's good that they have made the decision to deport [Samayoa]. It poses a danger for us in Massachusetts for this man to be here."

Samayoa has been living in Providence since he entered the United States illegally in 1992. He is accused by the Guatemalan government of involvement in an array of murders, rapes and kidnappings committed while he was the head of a 500-man paramilitary unit. Samayoa acknowledges his role in the paramilitary group, but he denies involvement in any atrocities.

Guatemalan prosecutors say they are waiting for Samayoa with an arrest warrant.

One of the eight friends and family members with Samayoa at immigration court Thursday was Wolfgang Knoess of Warren, Rhode Island. Knoess said he's known Samayoa for 13 years, employing him as a landscaper — even setting aside land for Samayoa and his family to raise a garden. Knoess said he can't fathom how the hard-working, friendly man he knows could be responsible for the crimes the government claims he committed.

"The allegations don't match up, and for him to do it himself, it's just beyond belief," Knoess said. "He's just been the most honorable person I've ever met. ... He would work for you no matter what the weather."

Samayoa had petitioned to stay in the country on the grounds that he would be tortured upon returning to Guatemala. Judge Sanchez denied this petition.

Samayoa has until late next month to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. For the time being, Samayoa's attorney said he will remain in custody at the Bristol County House of Corrections in Dartmouth. </s> PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A judge has ordered a man accused of war crimes and human rights violations while serving as a paramilitary commander during Guatemala’s civil war to return to his native country.

The Providence Journal reports that a judge in Boston on Thursday rejected Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera’s request to remain in the United States. The 67-year-old has lived in Providence, Rhode Island, for 25 years.

He’s accused by the Guatemalan government of being involved in murders and other crimes against indigenous Mayans in the 1980s.

Samayoa’s lawyer argues he’ll be tortured if he returns to Guatemala. Several supporters had sent letters to the judge urging him to allow Samayoa to stay in the U.S.

He has 30 days to decide whether he’ll appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our Comment Policy before commenting. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan presidential candidate Manuel Baldizon, who is wanted on graft charges, has sought asylum in the United States after he was arrested while trying to enter the country, authorities from both nations said.

FILE PHOTO: Renewed Democratic Liberation (LIDER) party's presidential candidate Manuel Baldizon addresses supporters during a political rally in Villa Nueva, on the outskirts of Guatemala City, September 4, 2015. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez/File Photo

Baldizon, a wealthy businessman who ran for president twice, was detained at the airport in Miami on Saturday after flying in from the Dominican Republic, Guatemala prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Yesenia Enriquez said.

Guatemala’s charges against Baldizon are part of a giant corruption probe involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA, according to the prosecutor’s office. The scandal has claimed high-level political scalps across Latin America.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested Baldizon following an Interpol alert resulting from a Guatemalan arrest warrant, the U.S. embassy in Guatemala said.

“The United States will follow established international protocols to return Mr. Baldizon to Guatemala to face justice,” the embassy said, referring all further questions to Guatemalan authorities.

Baldizon requested asylum in the United States, Guatemala’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under Homeland Security’s jurisdiction, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Baldizon is wanted in Guatemala on charges of illicit association, bribery and money laundering, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The statement said former Infrastructure Minister and brief presidential candidate Alejandro Sinibaldi was also wanted on suspected corruption charges stemming from the Odebrecht investigation, and was now a fugitive.

The prosecutor’s office did not give any information on the link with Odebrecht, which has admitted to paying multimillion-dollar bribes across Latin America and has already spent $3.5 billion for settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland.

The prosecutor’s office carried out 10 raids on Saturday and arrested three people as part of the Odebrecht investigation, the statement added.

In 2016, the head of Guatemala’s special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office told Reuters he had already been investigating Odebrecht’s bribes to a government official, and President Jimmy Morales said his administration would check all of the company’s contracts. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Former Guatemalan Vice President Roxana Baldetti was sentenced to 15-1/2 years in prison on Tuesday for fraud, influence peddling and illicit association related to a government contract to clean up a polluted lake, in the first of several cases she faces.

A panel of judges had charged Baldetti, 56, who has been in prison since 2015, for her role in the contract for chemicals to clean up Lake Amatitlan, around 16 miles (25 kms) south of Guatemala City.

The $17.8 million contract was awarded to M. Tarcic Engineering, an Israeli firm, but after $2 million was paid, investigators realized the money had been transferred to bank accounts of shell companies, and individuals who were later accused of fraud, prosecutors said.

Investigators discovered that the chemicals were essentially water with salt, leading to the case being nicknamed, “Magic Water.”

Baldetti “issued instructions to place key people to execute the budget in favor of the criminal organization (and) facilitated the administrative and financial procedures for the company,” said Pablo Xitumul, one of the three judges who sentenced the former vice president.

In 2015, both Baldetti and President Otto Perez resigned and were jailed over corruption scandals that gutted his government, sparked mass protests and plunged the country into a political crisis days before a presidential election.

Baldetti, who was vice president for three years, faces separate accusations of leading a network to defraud the state related to customs, alongside Perez, who is also awaiting trial.

She also faces corruption charges and an extradition request from the United States on drug trafficking charges.

The U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala that helped bring her down is now facing its own crisis, after President Jimmy Morales decided not to renew its mandate. </s> Guatemala City, Jan 6 (EFE).- Two officials with the Guatemalan Immigration Institute (IGM) were arrested Sunday for preventing entry into the country by the investigator of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Colombia’s Yilen Osorio.



The Public Ministry identified the pair of officials as the IGM delegates at the La Aurora International Airport: Irma Cruz Suntecun Tesucun and Miguel Antonio Cantoral Davila.



They were arrested for being in violation of a resolution issued by Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras.

 Osorio has been at the airport since late on Saturday.



Porras on Sunday ordered prosecutors to arrest anyone failing to comply with the resolutions regarding CICIG issued by the Constitutional Court, the country’s top judicial body.



The Constitutional Court ordered the IGM to allow Osorio’s entry into Guatemala within one hour after being notified to do so.



CICIG is a United Nations body charged with investigating and prosecuting serious crime in Guatemala.



Meanwhile, Guatemala’s 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu, said at a press conference earlier on Sunday that it was “illegal” to “kidnap” an international official and that officials of the Morales government were implicated in the crime, and she called upon the international community to “seek mechanisms to condemn Guatemala because it violated many rules” by prohibiting Osorio’s entry.



Some 20 organizations and indigenous municipalities had called the decision to bar entry to Osorio “shameful” and demanded that Porras investigate the matter and order the arrest of Cantoral Davila and Cruz Suntecun.



So far, there has been no statement released by the government of Jimmy Morales regarding the resolutions of the AG Office or the Constitutional Court.



In August 2017, a crisis erupted between the Morales government and CICIG, but specifically with CICIG Commissioner Ivan Velasquez, who last September was prohibited from entering the Central American country for his “interference” in internal matters and because the government considered him a threat to Guatemala’s peace and security.



CICIG has investigated key members of the Guatemalan government, along with Morales’ son and his brother, although they have denied accusations of corruption. </s> GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - U.S. authorities have detained former Guatemalan presidential candidate Manuel Baldizon to face charges in Guatemala.

The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City said Sunday the detention occurred at an undisclosed location in accordance with an Interpol request.

The charges involve Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which has acknowledged paying bribes across the region and elsewhere to win public works contracts.

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2011 file photo, Manuel Baldizon, presidential candidate of Guatemala's Democratic Freedom Revival Party, gives a press conference in Guatemala City. Baldizon was arrested on Jan. 20, 2018 at a U.S. airport for immigration irregularities, and after deportation to Guatemala he will face corruption charges in connection with Odebrecht. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

Baldizon is a tycoon-turned-political populist who lost a runoff election in 2011 to Otto Perez Molina, the former president who is himself facing trial in a separate corruption case.

A statement from prosecutors alleges Baldizon took bribes from Odebrecht to help win highway construction contracts in Guatemala. He faces charges of conspiracy, receiving bribes and money laundering in the first Odebrecht-related corruption case in Guatemala. </s> GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala's President Jimmy Morales announced Sunday he was expelling the head of the U.N.-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, known as CICIG in Spanish. But the move was quickly blocked by the country's top court. Background on the commission and its role in Guatemala:

Guatemala's Congress, under heavy international pressure, voted in 2007 to ratify the commission, which is made up of foreign experts to help local law enforcement build cases and gain expertise in fighting organized crime and police corruption. The country had seen an explosion of drug gang violence and corruption in the decade after the end of a 1960-1996 civil war in which 200,000 people died. Opponents said the commission was an unconstitutional violation of Guatemala's sovereignty.

The commission began by going after police corruption and drug gang enforcers and kidnappers. Its recommendations led to the firing or resignation of more than 1,700 police officers, several senior prosecutors and six Supreme Court judges.

Its scope rapidly expanded to broader political corruption. In 2008, it helped prosecutors build a case accusing former President Alfonso Portillo of stealing millions from the country's department. While a local court absolved him, Portillo was extradited to the U.S. and served time on money laundering charges. In 2010, it helped clear President Alvaro Colom of allegations he'd orchestrated the murder of a prominent lawyer. It also helped prosecute former and interior ministers for cases including the slayings of prison inmates.

Its crowning achievement was the 2015 resignation of then-President Otto Perez Molina and his Vice-President Roxana Baldetti, who remain jailed awaiting trial on a variety of corruption charges. The wide-ranging investigations have swept up many business people, politicians and bureaucrats. A judge this year gave prosecutors the green light to move ahead with a corruption probe of President Jimmy Morales' son and brother.

The country's chief prosecutor, together with Velasquez, announced Friday that they were moving to strip Morales himself of his immunity from prosecution in order to probe alleged irregularities in the financing of his 2015 presidential campaign. If the Supreme Court approved the request, it would be up to Congress to decide on removing immunity.

Morales didn't address the future of the commission itself. Its current mandate, approved by the government and the U.N., extends through September 2019. The Court injunction blocking expulsion of Velasquez means Morales the future of order itself is in question.

Guatemalan political forces have repeatedly tried to get rid of the commission, but public and international pressure has forced them to back off and renew its two-year terms.

The citizens of other countries in the region have watched its work admiringly, but paradoxically its success in prosecuting top politicians in Guatemala has made it unlikely that another leader in the region would invite the creation of such a commission.
U.S. Department of Justice immigration Judge Jose A. Sanchez in Boston, Massachusetts, approves an extradition request from the government of Guatemala for Juan Alicio Samayoa Cabrera, who is wanted for trial for war crimes.