Incumbent Cuellar Was Indicted for Accepting $600,000 in Azerbaijani Bribes to Rig U.S. Policy against Artsakh and Armenia

WASHINGTON – The Armenian National Committee of America has endorsed Webb County Judge Tano E. Tijerina in his Republican campaign for Texas’s 28th Congressional District, where he is seeking to unseat Rep. Henry Cuellar — Co-Chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus whose, decades-long record of corruption in advancing Azerbaijani interests culminated in a federal indictment for accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from Azerbaijani government sources.

“Judge Tijerina brings to this race the integrity, the faith, and the commitment to community that South Texas deserves — and that Washington has been denied by Henry Cuellar’s corrupt ties to Azerbaijan,” said Aram Hamparian, ANCA Executive Director. “For over a decade, Cuellar worked to block U.S. support for Armenia, undermine Artsakh, and advance Baku’s interests on Capitol Hill — all while, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Azerbaijani bribes. South Texas voters have both an opportunity and a responsibility to throw Cuellar out of Congress.”

“I am honored to receive the endorsement of the Armenian National Committee and deeply grateful for their trust and support,” stated Judge Tijerina. “Together, we will continue building bridges of opportunity, respect, and shared prosperity for all our communities.”

Following outreach by the ANCA Texas team, Judge Tijerina, his wife Kimberly, and his campaign team visited ANCA’s national headquarters in the Nation’s Capital on April 22nd, sitting down with the ANCA’s DC staff for a substantive discussion of the full range of priorities advocated by ANCA Texas and Armenian Americans across the Lone Star State. The meeting covered Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of Artsakh’s Christian Armenians, the ongoing illegal detention of Armenian hostages in Baku, Azerbaijan’s systematic destruction of Armenian Christian churches, cemeteries, and sacred sites, the right of return for displaced Artsakh Armenians, and justice for the Armenian Genocide. The ANCA also praised Judge Tijerina’s longstanding commitment to fighting religious repression worldwide.

“TX-28 is ground zero in the fight to hold Azerbaijan accountable for its foreign interference in American democracy,” said ANCA Texas Co-Chair Phil Kanayan. “Judge Tijerina understands what is at stake — not just for Armenian Americans in Texas, but for every voter in this district who was betrayed by a Congressman who sold his vote to a foreign government. We are proud to stand with Judge Tijerina and will be working to deliver this seat back to the people of South Texas.”

Judge Tano Tijerina: Faith, Family, and a Record of Service
Judge Tijerina has served as Webb County’s 15th County Judge since 2015, currently in his third term. A native of Laredo, he earned his degree from Texas A&M International University after a professional baseball career that began when he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1993. As County Judge, he has championed public safety, mental health, infrastructure investment, and opportunities for young people — earning recognition from dozens of regional organizations including the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Laredo, and LULAC. He previously served as Chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, where he led efforts to advance regional prosperity, secure borders, and fair immigration policy, and was appointed by the Supreme Court of Texas to serve on the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

A man of deep faith, Judge Tijerina has supported missionary work in India, Thailand, Panama, Central America, Mexico, and the United States — including efforts to aid victims of sex trafficking — a commitment that resonates with ANCA’s longstanding advocacy on behalf of persecuted Christian communities worldwide.

Henry Cuellar: A Decade of Betrayal
Rep. Henry Cuellar’s record on Armenian American priorities is one of consistent obstruction in service of Azerbaijan. As Co-Chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, Cuellar worked to block U.S. assistance to Artsakh, insert pro-Azerbaijan language into legislation and committee reports, and advance Baku’s geopolitical interests at the direct expense of Armenia’s security and sovereignty.

In May 2024, Cuellar and his wife were indicted on federal charges including bribery, conspiracy, acting as agents of foreign principals, and money laundering — accused of accepting over $598,000 from Azerbaijani state-controlled entities in exchange for advancing Azerbaijan’s agenda in Congress. Federal prosecutors detailed how Cuellar promised Azerbaijani contacts to influence U.S. foreign policy, deliver pro-Azerbaijan floor speeches, insert favorable legislative language, and arrange meetings with U.S. defense officials — all in exchange for payments that Azerbaijani diplomats tracked by referring to Cuellar as “el Jefe.”

In December 2025, President Trump pardoned Cuellar — a decision the ANCA condemned in the strongest terms as a free pass for foreign bribery. Within days, Trump himself soured on the arrangement: after Cuellar announced he would continue running as a Democrat, Trump publicly rebuked him for “a lack of LOYALTY” — making clear that even the president who pardoned him had concluded that Cuellar’s word could not be trusted.

“Henry Cuellar’s indictment was long overdue; his pardon a miscarriage of justice; his decision to run again an insult to every Texan who believes that foreign bribery should disqualify, not merely inconvenience, a sitting member of Congress,” added Hamparian.

Cuellar is now running for reelection in a district made more competitive under Texas’s newly drawn Congressional map. Armenian Americans across Texas — and advocates nationwide — are mobilizing to ensure that his bid fails.

The ANCA has actively targeted Cuellar for years through its #ExpelCuellar campaign, calling on the House to vote for his expulsion and on voters to reject him at the ballot box. Judge Tijerina’s candidacy represents the clearest path to accountability in TX-28.

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Former Artsakh leaders were paraded in a Baku military court on Jan. 21

Former Artsakh leaders, who are being held captive by Azerbaijan and were sentenced to lengthy jail terms, have been moved to a prison facility in Baku, cited last week by Amnesty International for its inhumane practices against inmates.

International human rights attorney Siranush Sahakyan reported the news of the transfer, saying that she learned about this latest development from the family of former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, who was sentenced to a 20-year prison term earlier this year.

Sahakyan explained that Vardanyan was transferred from the investigative isolation cell of the National Security Service of Azerbaijan to the Umbak prison that operates under the Ministry of Justice.

“According to the information I have, 19 Armenians are currently in the Umbak prison complex,” Sahakyan told Azatutyun.am on Tuesday.

She explained that three of the 19 were housed in the Umbak prison facility since their capture in 2023, adding that 16 were recently transferred there. In addition to Vardanyan, there are seven other Artsakh leaders and eight who were active in Artsakh’s self-defense.

The transfer, according to Siranush Sahakyan, is due to Azerbaijan’s internal policies. Some of the verdicts issued in February, including Ruben Vardanyan’s, were not appealed due to the lack of guarantees for justice and are considered to have entered into force. Under these conditions, according to Sahakyan, Azerbaijan’s internal system separates the places of detention of those serving sentences and those who are being held in custody awaiting judicial decisions.

“Perhaps all Armenian prisoners are now perceived as serving sentences based on the verdicts, so they were transferred from the investigative isolation cell under the National Security Service to another institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, which is the Umbak prison complex,” she said.

In February, the Baku military court sentenced 16 Armenian prisoners to life or long-term imprisonment, including the leadership of Artsakh.

Sahakyan learned about the transfer of the prisoners to the Umbak prison, located about 43 miles outside of Baku and in an isolated area of the city, from Vardanyan’s family.

She said that there is no transparency in this process, just like in their trials. The family members had no information about the transfer in advance. It is still unknown under what conditions the prisoners are being held in this facility, which was put into operation in 2023. According to the Azerbaijani authorities, Umbak meets all international standards.

“The physical conditions themselves do not yet imply that international standards are being met, because there are issues dealing with food, hygiene, ensuring contact with the outside world, and the lack of guarantees that they would not endure psychological or physical pressure. From this perspective, all international reports clearly record that torture is a widespread practice in Azerbaijani penitentiary system, ill-treatment is again widespread, and there are no effective mechanisms to curb it or punish those responsible,” Sahakyan emphasized.

Sahakyan said that following lengthy negotiations, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture conducted a short visit to Azerbaijani prisons, including Umbak, last year. The report is ready, but Azerbaijan is impeding its publication.

Sahakyan who advocates for the prisoners in international courts, added that the current situation attests to prevailing conditions in Azerbaijani prisons.

“From here we can only draw conclusions about the serious, blatant issues raised regarding torture, which the state refuses to address and make data available to the public. The list of places where experts and committee members visited included both the pre-trial detention center, where Armenians were previously held, and the new complex in Umbak.”

Since the closure of the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Baku last September, the only way to get information from prisoners held in Azerbaijan is through weekly phone conversations that the Armenian captives have been allowed since 2023 until the recent relocation.

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A scene from the joint working group meeting in Kars on Apr. 28

Based on the agreements reached as part of the Armenia-Turkey normalization process, the Armenia-Turkey Joint Working Group on rehabilitation and operation of the Gyumri-Kars railway was held in Kars on Tuesday.

“The parties emphasized the significance of the early operation of the Gyumri-Kars railway in the context of enhancing regional transport communications,” a statement from Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said.

The United States Embassy in Yerevan was quick to welcome the meeting, describing the development as “historic progress toward a peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus.”

According to the embassy, restoring the railway link between Armenia and Turkey is an important step toward enhancing regional connectivity and strengthening regional stability.

“Restoring this critical link between Armenia and Turkey is an important step in unlocking regional connectivity and solidifying regional stability,” the statement said.

The embassy also noted that the August 8 Washington Summit hosted by President Donald Trump set the stage for such momentous developments.

The U.S. Embassy emphasized its support for reopening economic and people-to-people links between Armenia and Turkey after decades of closure, calling the recent steps concrete progress in the Armenia-Turkey normalization process.

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The Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is pleased to announce the ten awardees of the 2026 արդ եւս|in view grants. This year’s cohort explores the concept of culture as a “social infrastructure” – a living, breathing network that sustains the Western Armenian language through film, digital media, music, and performance.

As the global Armenian landscape continues to evolve, the արդ եւս|in view programme remains a vital platform for contemporary creators who use Western Armenian as a dynamic tool for modern _expression_. The selected projects for this cycle demonstrate how art can act as a bridge across borders, connecting the communities, sounds, and memories of the Diaspora and its language.

This year’s selection represents a diverse geographical spread, from Lebanon and Armenia to France, Germany, Canada and the United States, reflecting the global nature of the Western Armenian creative world.

Below is the list of awardees and projects:

• Arman Peshtmaljyan (Armenia/France/USA): 1001 Voices – A music-driven project exploring the diverse vocalities of the global Armenian experience; creating five new original works in Western Armenian, based on newly written or creatively translated contemporary texts.
• Armenian Creatives (USA/Group): Those, words that offer to us: dispersed schools – A publication that will gather a collection of syllabi, project packets, workbooks, and more wherein each contribution offers a distinct interpretation of a lesson plan using their research findings as their source material. A compendium in which each contribution proposes an experimental school for translating and practicing Western Armenian.
• Christopher Atamian, Tamar Hovsepian, Nane Davtyan (USA/Group): Anna Boghiguian Documentary – A cinematic portrait of the renowned contemporary artist Anna Boghiguian, whose work has significantly shaped the discourse around identity, memory, materiality, and cultural continuity in contemporary art.
• Hakob Manukyan (Lebanon/Armenia): Armenian Soundtrack of Lebanon – A film that will document Beirut’s musical trajectory and legacy as it explores how art and language reflect their times, and how historical, political, and economic forces, in turn, shape artistic direction and _expression_.
• Hrant Kalemkerian (France/Lebanon): ՕԴԱԲԵՐԻԿ (Otaperig) – The two-part project will feature a docufictional series using archives, photographs, letters, oral histories, and stories told within intimate circles to document stories from Armenian communities worldwide and bring them to Bourj-Hammoud to be told; and a stopmotion series, which will collect news from the daily lives of different Armenian communities.
• Marlene Edoyan (Canada/Armenia): Psychogeography of Language – A feature-length hybrid essay film that approaches language through the lens of psychogeography. It explores how language survives when separated from stable geography and how it reshapes identity across time and place. 
• Niagara Arminée Neige Tonolli (France). Those who left twice |: The Twice Departed – A documentary about Armenian families from the Rhône Valley in France (Décines, Valence, Vienne) who took part in the repatriation movements to Soviet Armenia during the campaigns of 1936 and 1947. 
• Silvina Der Meguerditchian (Germany): Languages | Լեզուներ – A multilingual, experimental book based on the eponymous Western Armenian text by Krikor Beledian. The project combines selected fragments and essayistic reflections on Diaspora and multilingualism with photographic work. 
• Serli Hachigoglu (USA): Between Tongues: The Language of Memory – An immersive, multisensory exhibition and accompanying website exploring intergenerational Armenian identity through Western Armenian as a language of nurture, survival and belonging.
• Tsolak Galstyan (Armenia): “Embodied Language” – An interdisciplinary cultural production project that will create three short dance films in cinematic noir style, each inspired by the poetry of a major Western Armenian poet. 

By supporting these projects, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation continues to treat culture as a fundamental infrastructure. These works do more than preserve the language; they innovate within it, ensuring that Western Armenian remains a medium for critical thought, artistic excellence, and social connection.

The արդ եւս|in view grants provide up to €10,000 in support per project. We look forward to the debut of these works, which will be shared through various digital platforms, screenings, and installations over the coming years.

For further information please visit: the Armenian Communities website, subscribe to the newsletter and follow their Facebook page.

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