White House Must Embrace Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Extradite Guatemalans
Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras is a key official for combating transnational crime, which President Donald Trump and his team have said is a top priority. She has faithfully applied the law despite Joe Biden regime’s crimes against her. To achieve his goals, Trump should review Porras’s history and invite her to the White House.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Attorney General Pam Bondi will pursue extraditions from Guatemala. Meanwhile, Guatemala’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has international warrants for former prosecutor Juan Francisco Sandoval and former Attorney General Thelma Aldana. Both are flagrantly corrupt and have been living in the United States, but the Biden regime protected them from extradition.
Bondi should immediately extradite them to Guatemala. This would be a bold message that the United States stands on the side of the rule of law in Latin America and will not harbor the region’s fugitives.
Rubio, as he departed from Guatemala on February 5, stressed the importance to US national security of extraditing fugitives to the United States. Rubio promised “to cut the head off the snake of a transnational group that’s particularly dangerous.… We’re going to be working very closely with our new attorney general and the Justice Department [to prioritize] our extradition requests so that they align with our strategic objective.”
Anti-US Embassy Cannot Stand Pro-US Porras
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The State Department (DOS) sanctioned Porras in 2021 and illegally intervened in an attempt to keep her from reappointment in 2022. Despite this, Porras retained her job. The Justice Department even praised Guatemalan law enforcement on March 16, 2023, for unprecedented cooperation regarding extraditions of human smugglers. The statement should have mentioned Porras’s indispensable participation.
The same pattern has just occurred. A February 27 embassy post in Spanish on X suggests that the hostility towards Porras continues. The post bragged about the extradition of Abelardo Villatoro to the United States but did not mention the one person responsible: Porras. The attorney general—an autonomous official not subject to presidential authority—is the only Guatemalan official with the authority to request extraditions.
The Biden regime’s hostility towards Porras was outright. September 20, 2021, DOS sanctions against Porras were for “actively undermining investigations carried out by the special prosecutor against impunity, including by firing its lead prosecutor, Juan Francisco Sandoval.” Porras explained on July 23, 2021, when she fired Sandoval, that he had, among other things, obstructed an investigation.
The US Homeland Security Department (DHS) had sent a criminal referral to the AGO on August 2, 2019, about misuse of a USAID grant. Nine months after Sandoval left, his replacement obtained 14 arrest warrants in the case. DOS continued to praise him. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken even wrote to Sandoval on May 9, 2022: “you have my highest respect and admiration.” Blinken added handwritten: “With appreciation for your leadership.”
DOS has claimed Porras corruptly prosecuted judges and prosecutors for having fought corruption. Overwhelming public evidence showed those Porras prosecuted deserved it. DOS was defending its minions who had committed crimes executing its agenda.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) wrote a December 8, 2022, letter to Blinken questioning DOS sanctions. Lee cited evidence that DOS and USAID applied sanctions politically instead of legally.
Protecting the Biden Regime’s Favorite Son
DOS efforts against Porras escalated after the June 25, 2023, elections. After receiving more than 1,000 complaints regarding the presidential election, the AGO investigated.
DOS claimed Bernardo Arévalo had won and falsely claimed Porras had no role regarding elections. Responding to an Arévalo petition, the high court ordered Porras to continue the investigation and report her findings to the proper authorities.
On December 12, 2023, the AGO presented its findings to the electoral authority. Two million out of a total of 5.6 million votes were missing, sufficient to annul the election. DOS intimidated judges not to apply the law so that Arévalo would be inaugurated and not removed from the presidency.
The Biden regime imposed Arévalo to keep Guatemala open for the flow of illegal migrants and drugs as part of its agenda to flood our country with them.
Blinken and his assistant, Brian Nichols, admitted to Congress in 2024 they had extorted Guatemalan congressmen in an attempt to remove Porras from office. Porras told the high court that Arévalo’s unconstitutional efforts to remove her constituted a “real, certain, and imminent threat” that could result in attacks against her “physical integrity and life.”
Porras Stands Firm for the Rule of Law
Despite being demonized and attacked by the Biden regime, DOS, and their puppet Arévalo, Porras has courageously persisted in enforcing the law. She is the Trump administration’s best chance to more effectively combat transnational crime coming from Latin America.
The embassy X post subtly suggests to Guatemalans, especially judges, that the DOS hostility towards Porras continues. To reverse the Biden agenda and promote his own, Trump should immediately cancel the sanctions against Porras and her prosecutors, replace Ambassador Tobin Bradley and Deputy Chief of Mission Patrick Ventrell, and invite Porras to the White House.
On that trip, Porras should meet with Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, DHS Secretary Kristy Noem, Border Czar Tom Homan, Rubio, and congressional leaders. The message to Guatemalans and other Latin Americans would be that Trump is serious about reversing Biden’s treachery.
steven hecht de impunityobserver.com
Steve Hecht is a businessman, writer, and film producer, born and raised in New York. He has lived and worked in Guatemala since 1972.
