On April 6, 2020, Guatemala’s foreign ministry said that all flights from the United States returning deported Guatemalan migrants are suspended this week due to the coronavirus pandemic. The deportation flights resumed during the week of April 20. According to Joaquin Samayoa, a foreign ministry spokesman, the suspension is only in effect this week, which is when Christians celebrate Holy Week.[1]

On March 25, 2020 the UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the “Beatles” case. The ruling immediately hit the headlines for, among other things, calling the action of the UK Government “unlawful.”[1]

On March 17, 2020, the United States Secretary of State criticized France for releasing an Iranian relator wanted for prosecution by the U.S. in an apparent prisoner exchange with Iran.  On March 13, 2020, Jalal Rohollahnejad, whose extradition the U.S. had requested on charges of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, was released in an apparent exchange for French researcher Roland Marchal, whom Iran had detained for more than eight months on charges of violating state security laws.[1]

On March 23, 2020, Swedbank released the investigative report conducted by law firm Clifford Chance showing anti-money laundering (“AML”) and sanctions gaps during the period 2014-2019, mainly in Swedbank’s Baltic operations.[1]  The report[2] comes at a time when Swedbank faces a joint investigation conducted by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and the Estonian Financial Supervisory Authority, an investigation by Sweden’s economic crimes body and the U.S. and New York investigative and law enforcement authorities.[3]

On Thursday, March 26, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it indicted Nicolás Maduro and several of his colleagues on drug-trafficking and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy charges.[1] The colleagues include more than a dozen individuals, notably the Chief Justice of Venezuela’s Supreme Court and the defense minister. According to The Washington Post, Maduro could face a 50-year minimum prison sentence if extradited to the U.S. and convicted.[2]

On March 31, 2020, United States law enforcement agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force announced the uncovering on March 19 of a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel, which goes under the U.S.-Mexico border to a warehouse in a commercial complex in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego. On April 1, 2020, President Donald Trump and law enforcement officials announced the U.S. government started enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere.

On April 6, 2020, Guatemala’s foreign ministry said that all flights from the United States returning deported Guatemalan migrants are suspended this week due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Joaquin Samayoa, a foreign ministry spokesman,  the suspension is only in effect this week, which is when Christians celebrate Holy Week.[1]

GRECO’s Fifth Round Evaluation of Croatia, released earlier this year, evaluates the framework currently in place to prevent corruption among officials with top level executive functions and within the police force.  GRECO is the Group of States against Corruption within the Council of Europe.[1]

On Wednesday, March 5, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a U.S. immigration judge in Memphis ordered a Tennessee man’s extradition to Germany. The man, Friedrich Karl Berger, 94, is a German citizen and served as an armed guard at a concentration camp in Nazi Germany during World War II. According to the DOJ, Judge Rebecca L. Holt made the ruling after “a two-day trial ‘on the basis of his service in Nazi Germany in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system.[1]

On March 5, 2020, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced the publication of Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (“Voluntary Principles”).  They announced 11 voluntary principles as online measures that companies in the technology industry can select to implement to protect the children who use their platforms from sexual abuse online and to make their platforms more difficult for child sex offenders to exploit.[1]