GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemalan court ordered Monday the arrests of Colombia’s attorney general and a former Colombian defense minister who led a U.N. anti-corruption mission in Guatemala.
Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who himself has been sanctioned by the United States and other countries for allegedly interfering in corruption investigations, had requested that an appeals court issue the arrest orders for Colombia’s top prosecutor Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón, who was the chief of investigations of the Guatemala mission, and Iván Velásquez, who had led the mission and later was Colombia’s defense minister.
Curruchiche said Camargo and Velásquez had committed illicit association during their investigation into bribes paid to Guatemalan officials by Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
Along with former Guatemalan prosecutors working with the U.N. mission, Velásquez and Camargo were part of “a criminal structure led by the former CICIG commissioner,” using the Spanish initials of the U.N. mission, Curruchiche alleged.
Curruchiche had long ago focused his investigation on an agreement the anti-corruption prosecutors had signed with Odebrecht that would offer reduced penalties in exchange for the company’s cooperation in the investigation. His boss, Prosecutor General Consuelo Porras, has also been sanctioned by the U.S. and other governments for blocking corruption investigations. Last week, a U.N. expert warned her office was using criminal law to pursue enemies.
Velásquez responded via X after learning of the accusations.
“So now the corrupt Guatemalan attorney general and her prosecutor Curruchiche – designated as corrupt and sanctioned by the United States and the European Union – extend their persecution for Luz Adriana Camargo and me,” Velásquez wrote. “My solidarity with the former officials and so many Guatemalan citizens who the Attorney General’s Office has forced into exile.”
Camargo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Among those former Guatemalan prosecutors forced into exile was Juan Francisco Sandoval, who led the special prosecutor’s office against impunity.
Sandoval, who led the Odebrecht investigation with support from the U.N. mission and has been living in exile in the United States, said last month in a statement that Curruchiche’s investigation was “a sham and a manipulation strategy.”
The U.N. mission operated in Guatemala from 2007 to 2019, when then-President Jimmy Morales decided to not renew its mandate, after it linked members of his family to a case.
It had worked with Guatemalan prosecutors to take down criminal structures in the country, sending judges, prosecutors, other public officials, including former presidents to trial for corruption.
AP reporter Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.
FILE - Rafael Curruchiche, a special prosecutor from the Office Against Impunity, arrives to court for a hearing against jailed journalist Jose Ruben Zamora in Guatemala City, Feb. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
FILE - Outgoing Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez introduces the new National Police Director Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana in Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
