Justo Arenas has been the Chief United States Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 2004 to the present. Originally appointed to the then position of United States Magistrate in 1981, early that year he briefly served as a Trial Attorney, Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. From 1978 to 1981, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Puerto Rico and held the position of Chief, Major Drug Traffickers Prosecution Unit(MDTPU). From 1976 to 1978, he was elbow law clerk to then United States District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico Honorable Juan R. Torruella, currently a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Judge Arenas has been a transferee magistrate judge authorized a full range of duties in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire since 2007, a position he also held in 1991-1992. From 1989 to the present, he has been a member of the visiting faculty of the United States Department of Justice, Office of Legal Education, Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, now located at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Active in international judicial reform and the rule of law overseas, Judge Arenas has lectured in the Middle East, Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, and Africa, and has been an instructor at seminars for judges in Cali, Medellin, Manizales and Bogota, Colombia, sponsored by USAID and the United States Department of Justice, Office of Overseas Professional Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT). Judge Arenas served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1970 and was stationed in Bien Hoa, Republic of Vietnam, from 1969 to 1970. He was in the United States Navy Reserve from 1983 to 2005, retiring as a Commander, having served in multinational operations in Korea (Operation Freedom Banner), Panama (PANAMAX-2004), Italy(Operation Deny Flight-Provide Promise), and in seven UNITAS exercises in Argentina, Chile and Peru.
|
