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For Immediate Release
July, 28 2025, 04:35pm EDT
Contact:
John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, johnc@ips-dc.org | Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, olivia@ips-dc.org | Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies, manuel@ips-dc.org
Santa Marta Five Water Defenders to be tried again on July 29 in El Salvador
After six months of postponement, the retrial against the Santa Marta Five water defenders—who were declared innocent by a tribunal in El Salvador in October 2024—will take place on July 29 to 31, 2025.
On January 11, 2023, the Salvadoran Attorney General charged five renowned water defenders from the community of Santa Marta and the Association for Social and Economic Development of El Salvador (ADES) with an alleged crime committed 35 years ago during that country’s 12-year civil war.
Soon after their detention, members of the Santa Marta community accompanied by environmental organizations denounced that these detentions were not intended to bring justice to victims of the war. Instead, the attorney general was pursuing spurious charges against ex-guerrilla combatants who had become prominent water defenders that led the fight which prohibited metals mining in El Salvador in 2017.
In October 2024, after a long legal defense campaign that denounced a series of irregularities with the proceedings, a tribunal in the district of Sensuntepeque declared the five water defenders innocent. The ruling confirmed that the Attorney General had not provided evidence of the existence of a crime. However, the ruling was overturned a month later by a Criminal Appeals Chamber who ordered retrial.
International Allies Against Mining is a coalition of organizations from the US, Canada and Australia that have carried out research and advocacy with civil society organizations in El Salvador in their fight to protect their scarce water resources. Since January 2023, International Allies has provided accompaniment to the community of Santa Marta in their pursuit of justice for their water defenders.
For further information please contact:
John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, johnc@ips-dc.org, (202) 297-4823
Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, olivia@ips-dc.org
Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies, manuel@ips-dc.org
Institute for Policy Studies turns Ideas into Action for Peace, Justice and the Environment. We strengthen social movements with independent research, visionary thinking, and links to the grassroots, scholars and elected officials. I.F. Stone once called IPS "the think tank for the rest of us." Since 1963, we have empowered people to build healthy and democratic societies in communities, the US, and the world. Click here to learn more, or read the latest below.
LATEST NEWS
'Arrest and Prosecute': Demands for Justice After Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez Named as Masked Agents Who Killed Alex Pretti
"It’s not a lack of training issue, it’s a culture of violence and lawlessness issue."
Feb 02, 2026
After Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez were identified Sunday as the two masked federal officers who shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, immediate calls for their arrest and prosecution went out alongside demands for the heavy-handed operations ordered by the Trump administration to come to an immediate end.
ProPublica named Ochoa and Gutierrez, both from Texas but deployed for operations in Minnesota prior to the shooting, based on government documents the nonprofit news outlet obtained.
According to ProPublica:
Both men were assigned to Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement dragnet launched in December that sent scores of armed and masked agents across the city.
CBP, which employs both men, has so far refused to release their names and has disclosed few other facts about the deadly incident, which came days after a different immigration agent shot and killed another Minneapolis protester, a 37-year-old mother of three named Renee Good.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis and nationwide following the homicides of Good and Pretti, both captured on video from various angles by bystanders for all the world to see. Sunday's reporting notes that both Ochoa and Gutierrez were seasoned officers with the Border Patrol, joining the agency in 2018 and 2014 respectively.
"The two CBP federal agents who murdered Alex Pretti have been on the job for 11 and 7 years, respectively," said Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the New York Health Campaign, in response to the reporting. "It’s not a lack of training issue, it’s a culture of violence and lawlessness issue. If you’re still voting to fund this, you’re condoning it."
Many lawmakers have argued that the killings of Pretti and Good—as well as the near-endless list of violence, intimidation, unconstitutional searches, and unlawful behavior of immigration enforcement officers under the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—are attributable to a wave of new recruits and inadequate training. But critics have said that the argument provides a smokescreen for the Trump administration, which has encouraged such tactics as a matter of policy.
"ICE has much more than a training problem—it has a culture problem," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) during a news interview on Sunday. "The lack of accountability for their violence and lawless actions corrupts the entire agency, and our communities are forced to pay the consequences."
ICE has much more than a training problem – it has a culture problem.
The lack of accountability for their violence and lawless actions corrupts the entire agency, and our communities are forced to pay the consequences. pic.twitter.com/hO0eMQ04uh
— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) February 1, 2026
Social justice activists like Lance Cooper were among those demanding, now that the identities are known, for the arrest and prosecution of the two agents named in the reporting.
"These killers are being protected by the US government," said Lance, "and we must continue to demand their arrest and prosecution."
State and local law enforcement in Minnesota been allowed to participate in the investigation following Pretti's shooting, and both agents were quickly taken away from the scene and then out of the state.
While the Trump administration has withheld the names of the agents from public disclosure, the editors at ProPublica said in a note that the public has an overriding interest in learning more about the masked men behind the killing of Pretti.
"The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials," the outlet stated. "Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability."
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'Lying or Demented': Trump Mocked For Claiming He Was 'Not Involved' With Losing Candidate He Endorsed
Despite denials of being involved in the Texas state senate special election, Trump endorsed the losing candidate on three separate occasions over the last three days.
Feb 01, 2026
Hours after the Republican Party suffered an upset defeat in a special election in a deep-red district in Texas, President Donald Trump falsely claimed he had nothing to do with the race.
While speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Sunday, Trump was asked what he made of the GOP losing a Texas state senate election in a district that he carried by 17 percentage points in 2024.
"I'm not involved in that, that's a local Texas race," Trump replied.
Reporter: A Democrat won a special election in Texas in an area that you won by 17 points
Trump: I’m not involved in that. That’s a local race. I don’t know anything about it. I had nothing to do with it. pic.twitter.com/MfWU1DZkar
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 1, 2026
In fact, Trump endorsed losing Republican candidate Leigh Wambsganss on three separate occasions in just the last three days, including a Saturday post on Truth Social where he called her "a phenomenal Candidate" and "an incredible supporter of our Movement to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN."
Trump's attempt to distance himself from someone whom he enthusiastically endorsed just one day ago elicited instant ridicule from many of his critics on social media.
"Two days ago, the president used his social media platform to endorse this 'phenomenal candidate' and to urge 'all America First Patriots' in the district to get out and vote for her," remarked Princeton historian Kevin Kruse. "Today, he says he doesn't know anything about it and had nothing to do with it. He's lying or demented or both."
Zak Williams, a political consultant at Zenith Strategies and a native Texan, wrote that Trump was "intimately involved" in the campaign, noting that Republicans outspent Democrats in the race by a margin of 10 to 1.
Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who left the GOP over his disgust with Trump, expressed astonishment at the president's blatant dishonesty.
"He’s such a horrible person," wrote Walsh. "And such a dishonest person. Yes, he was involved in that race. He endorsed the losing candidate, and she lost 100% because of him. She lost 100% because of this past year of his chaos, his cruelty, and his incompetence. Her loss was a total rejection of him."
Journalist James Barragán of TX Capital Tonight, argued that the Wambsganss loss calls into question just how effective Trump's endorsements will be in moving voters in the 2026 midterm elections.
"President Trump says he’s 'not involved' in SD 9 race where his endorsed candidate (who he boosted multiple times in the runup) lost a +17 Trump district," wrote Barragán. "He’s either not being truthful or it makes you question how much stock people should put into his social media endorsements."
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'Corruption on a Breathtaking Level': Report Details Massive Foreign Investment in Trump Crypto Firm
"This was a bribe," said one critic.
Feb 01, 2026
A bombshell Saturday report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family secretly backed a massive $500 million investment into the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture months before the Trump administration gave the United Arab Emirates access to highly sensitive artificial intelligence chip technology.
According to the Journal's sources, lieutenants of Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed a deal in early 2025 to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the startup founded by members of the Trump family and the family of Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
Documents reviewed by the Journal showed that the buyers in the deal agreed to "pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities," while "at least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with" the Witkoff family.
Weeks after green lighting the investment into the Trump crypto venture, Tahnoon met directly with President Donald Trump and Witkoff in the White House, where he reportedly expressed interest in working with the US on AI-related technology.
Two months after this, the Journal noted, "the administration committed to give the tiny Gulf monarchy access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year—enough to build one of the world’s biggest AI data center clusters."
Tahnoon in the past had tried to get US officials to give the UAE access to the chips, but was rebuffed on concerns that the cutting-edge technology could be passed along to top US geopolitical rival China, wrote the Journal.
Many observers expressed shock at the Journal's report, with some critics saying that it showed Trump and his associates were engaging in a criminal bribery scheme.
"This was a bribe," wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, in a social media post. "UAE royals gave the Trump family $500 million, and Trump, in his presidential capacity, gave them access to tightly guarded American AI chips. The most powerful person on the planet, also happens to be the most shamelessly corrupt."
Jesse Eisinger, reporter and editor at ProPublica, argued that the Abu Dhabi investment into the Trump cypto firm "should rank among the greatest US scandals ever."
Democratic strategist David Axelrod also said that the scope of the Trump crypto investment scandal was historic in nature.
"In any other time or presidency, this story... would be an earthquake of a scandal," he wrote. "The size, scope and implications of it are unprecedented and mind-boggling."
Tommy Vietor, co-host of "Pod Save America," struggled to wrap his head around the scale of corruption on display.
"How do you add up the cost of corruption this massive?" he wondered. "It's not just that Trump is selling advanced AI tech to the highest bidder, national security be damned. Its that he's tapped that doofus Steve Witkoff as an international emissary so his son Zach Witkoff can mop up bribes."
Former Rep. Tom Malinkowski (D-NJ) warned the Trump and his associates that they could wind up paying a severe price for their deal with the UAE.
"If a future administration finds that such payments to the Trump family were acts of corruption," he wrote, "these people could be sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act, and the assets in the US could potentially be frozen."
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