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Far-Right Upstart de la Espriella Advances to Runoff in Colombia's Presidential Election
Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro has refused to accept the preliminary results, claiming there were 800,000 or more additional voter IDs in the nation's election system than in the electoral census.
Jun 02, 2026
Abelardo de la Espriella—a far-right political upstart who promises to wield an "iron fist" against criminals and who emulates right-wing presidents, including Donald Trump in the United States—secured the most votes in the first round of Colombia's presidential election and will advance to a second-round runoff, the country's electoral authorities announced over the weekend.
Leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda, the handpicked successor of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, had been expected to win the first-round contest, based on voter surveys. However, de la Espriella and his running mate, former Finance Minister José Manuel Restrepo Abondano, won 43.74% of the vote, with Cepeda and Aida Marina Quilcué Vivas, a senator and Indigenous leader, garnering 40.9%, according to preliminary results published by the National Electoral Council.
Addressing a jubilant crowd in Barronanquilla—a city he lost—de la Espriella, who represents the Defensores de la Patria (Defenders of the Homeland) party, triumphantly declared, "We will punish the enemies of Colombia!"
"Today, the people spoke," said the 47-year-old attorney, who is also known as the Tiger. "For the first time in political history, an independent man, without silencers and with the necessary character, has won."
“Gustavo Petro, do not dare to ignore the results of the elections because the people are going to rise up and they will punish you," he added.
Petro has refused to acknowledge Sunday's preliminary results due to alleged irregularities, claiming there were roughly 800,000–885,000 additional voter IDs in the election system compared with the official electoral census.
Cepeda, 63, addressed the discrepancy during a speech to supporters in Bogotá, saying that "there is a gap we want to verify... We are talking about 885,000 people."
People rallied in Bogotá and elsewhere in Colombia on Sunday in support of Cepeda and the incumbent Pacto Histórico (Historic Pact) party.
LAS CALLES DE BOGOTÁ ESTALLAN CONTRA ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA pic.twitter.com/AmVvaOSIYw
— Julian D. Martinez (@jumartinezp) June 2, 2026
The global leftist coalition Progressive International (PI) issued an urgent alert "regarding conduct by US Sen. Bernie Moreno that appears to constitute a direct violation of Colombia’s electoral law" amid reporting that the Ohio Republican traveled to Colombia to try to facilitate an alliance between de la Espriella and establishment conservative candidate Sen. Paloma Valencia with the goal of defeating Cepeda. Moreno and the candidates denied that any such meetings were planned.
David Adler, PI's co-general coordinator, told Colombian National Radio that US corporate media are "orchestrating a smear campaign" looking "for new ways to defame the candidate Iván Cepeda, alleging links to drug trafficking, just as they did" with Petro.
Adler also reported police officers conducting entry checks at polling places, telling voters to "stand at attention for the homeland"—one of de la Espriella's campaign slogans.
De la Espriella—a criminal defense attorney who has represented mass murderers, drug traffickers, money launderers, paramilitary militiamen, and others—ran on a "law and order" platform and promised to wield an "iron fist" against criminals. He has pledged to build megaprisons like the violence-plagued Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) built under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whom he once called "the best example in the world of what a country must do."
“The 'Total Peace' policy ends with me," de la Espriella previously said, referring to Petro's effort to end Colombia’s long-running internal conflict through a broad, multi-track approach.
"Total Security will begin," he said. "The public [security] forces... must be strengthened through an agreement with the United States. We want to be part of the Shield of the Americas, and we want to build a major policy with the United States to end drug trafficking."
De la Espriella has said he wants to withdraw Colombia from the United Nations and forge closer ties with the United States and Trump, one of the right-wing leaders for whom he has expressed admiration. He has also repeatedly praised Bukele and Argentinian President Javier Milei.
According to El País, American flags and "Make America Great Again" hats were seen at Sunday's victory rally in Barranquilla. Israeli flags were also spotted; de la Espriella has vowed to restore ties with Israel, which Petro severed in 2024 due to the country's annihilation of Gaza. Under Petro, Colombia also formally intervened in South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
De la Espriella's desire for closer cooperation with Washington comes as the Trump administration illegally bombs boats in the Caribbean Sea, including off the Colombian coast, and Pacific Ocean, claiming—without providing evidence—that the vessels were smuggling drugs.
Trump also ordered an invasion of Venezuela to abduct President Nicolás Maduro on dubious narco-terrorism charges, and the US is taking part in military operations against alleged drug cartels in Ecuador, where civilians have reportedly been killed and tortured during the campaign.
The US Department of Justice is now reportedly investigating whether Petro has any links to narco-traffickers—a claim that the president vehemently denies.
On the domestic front, de la Espriella has vowed to "put God back in the classrooms" as part of a revival of Christian conservatism. He has also been accused of misogyny for comments—including telling female journalists that he gained many women's votes due to the size of his genitals—and of homophobic harassment of Valencia's running mate, Juan David Oviedo.
In an incident that alarmed many Colombians, de la Espriella laughingly boasted on national television about how, in his youth, he tortured and killed cats by blowing them up with fireworks.
The second round runoff between de la Espriella and Cepeda is scheduled for June 21. Valencia has thrown her support behind de la Espriella, but having won less than 7% of the first-round vote, and with centrist candidate Sergio Fajardo's 1 million votes up for grabs, observers say it's anyone's race to win—or lose.
“As the saying goes," Colombian political strategist Miguel Jaramillo Luján told Al Jazeera on Monday, "whoever makes fewer mistakes will be the winner.”
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After Castro Charges, Critics Ask: When Are Indictments Coming for Trump-Hegseth 'Extrajudicial Murders'?
"Apparently you're not allowed to kill people in international waters now?" said one progressive organizer.
May 21, 2026
Over the last eight months, at the direction of President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the US military has bombed at least 57 boats and killed close to 200 people—among them fishermen, a young man known in his town for his indoor soccer playing, and working people who had recently struggled to make ends meet—in what human rights experts have called "murders" and extrajudicial killings.
But the indictment filed this week regarding unlawful killings by government forces in the Caribbean region had nothing to do with Trump's boat bombing spree, which the White House has claimed it aimed at stopping drug trafficking. Instead, the target of the indictment filed by the US Justice Department was 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro, who was charged with one count of conspiracy for his alleged role in shooting down planes that flew into Cuba's airspace in 1996.
The planes were operated by an anti-Fidel Castro group, Brothers to the Rescue, and four Cuban-Americans were killed in the operation.
In expressing support for the indictment, US Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.), a Cuban-American immigrant, said that "there will be consequences to pay if you harm American citizens in international waters, in international airspace for no reason at all, and believe me, this was no reason at all."
Michael Galant, a member of the secretariat of the Progressive International, commented with feigned surprise: "Apparently you're not allowed to kill people in international waters now? Someone tell Hegseth."
The organization's co-general coordinator, David Adler, added, "I simply do not understand how we, as a country, tolerate the hypocrisy of indicting Raúl Castro for defending Cuban airspace—while our own government celebrates the extrajudicial assassinations of innocent fishermen sailing across the sea below," while Ryan Grim of Drop Site News noted the indictment also followed the bombing of a school in Iran—an attack that investigators said was likely carried out by the US.
The indictment of Castro, noted the Progressive International, was set to coincide with Cuba's Independence Day and came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long desired regime change in the communist country, mused that the Cuban government has "plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people"—echoing his criticism of Iran, another target of the US military under Trump.
The timing of and ramp-up to the indictment was "a piece of political theater calibrated to one audience only: the Miami exile lobby that has spent decades pursuing its commercial and ideological vendetta against the Cuban Revolution," said the group's Cabinet.
"US officials themselves acknowledge they do not believe Cuba is an imminent threat, nor actively planning to attack American interests—and yet in the same breath, the administration has laundered a set of alarming claims about Cuban drone acquisitions, presented with all the breathless urgency of a casus belli," the Progressive International added, referring to Axios' reporting last weekend on claims from an administration official that Cuba is preparing to attack the US with drones—a report that ultimately acknowledged the Cubans are not planning any preemptive strikes on the US but are rather thought to be strategizing on self-defense as the US intensifies its anti-Cuba rhetoric and continues the oil blockade it imposed in February.
The Cuban embassy in the United Kingdom on Thursday said it rejected US claims about the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue plane, which it called "an irrefutable act of sovereign self-defense" that took place after "25 deliberate, calculated violations of our national airspace" by the exile group.
"To criminalize our nation, the US manipulated the official [International Civil Aviation Organization] investigation, deliberately erasing the first six minutes of radar and radio recordings to conceal the territorial incursion," the embassy asserted. "The narrative of an attack in international waters is an absolute juridical fraud."
In a column at Common Dreams Thursday, Codepink co-counder Medea Benjamin added that she was in Cuba in 1996 when the planes were shot down. The leader of Brothers to the Rescue, José Baulto, she said, openly stated that he was "trained as a terrorist by the United States," and said after one mission in which the group dropped leaflets over Havana that the group was seeking "confrontation.”
"The Cuban government repeatedly warned Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and international aviation authorities that these flights were illegal and dangerous. US officials knew the risks," wrote Benjamin. "The hypocrisy of indicting Raúl Castro nearly 30 years later is staggering, given the long history of anti-Cuban extremists operating from US soil to wreak havoc against the island with bombings, sabotage, and airline terrorism."
Those US-based extremists include the perpetrators of the 1976 midair bombing of Cubana Flight 455, a commercial airliner carrying 73 crew and passengers, many of them teenage members of Cuba’s junior Olympic fencing team.
The Trump administration's boat bombings, meanwhile, have been called likely "war crimes" by some legal experts and "murders" by others. The White House has insisted the US is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels in Latin America, but no conflict has been officially declared. In at least one instance, US military members were ordered to bomb the survivors of an initial strike—a clear violation of international law.
The US in the past has treated suspected drug trafficking as a criminal issue—not one to be dealt with militarily. Before the boat bombings began, one top military legal adviser warned Pentagon officials, “There is no world where this is legal," and said carrying out the attacks could expose everyone involved, from top White House officials to rank-and-file service members ordered to carry out the strikes, to legal liability.
"The same US government now pursuing charges against Raúl Castro has itself been carrying out deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, strikes that have killed at least 193 people since September 2025, with no transparency or due process," wrote Benjamin.
Following the Castro indictment, the Progressive International called on "governments, movements, and peoples of conscience everywhere to call out this escalation for what it is—a naked effort to recolonize Cuba and the hemisphere at large—and to stand firmly against it."
"We have seen this playbook before—in Iraq, in Libya, in Venezuela, and in other sites of manufactured consent for illegal war across the world. The Progressive International will not stand silent as it is deployed against Cuba," said the group. "Hands off Cuba."
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'This Is Insane': Alarm Bells Follow New Report of Looming US Plan to Attack Cuba
"Trump is preparing to take the US into another illegal war against Cuba," warned one progressive critic of the US president. "We must stop him. It’s not too late."
Apr 15, 2026
Is Cuba next in line for a US attack?
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said it could be, and USA Today on Wednesday cited "sources familiar" with the matter who said that the Pentagon is "quietly ramping up" preparations to wage war on the socialist nation if Trump gives the order.
On Monday, Trump flippantly declared that “we may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this," referring to the illegal US-Israeli war of choice on Iran that's left thousands of Iranians dead or wounded, including hundreds of children.
Trump has also said that he believes he’ll “be having the honor of taking Cuba,” language echoing the 19th century US imperialists who conquered the island along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines from Spain in another war waged on dubious pretense.
"Whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want," Trump said of the island and its 11 million inhabitants.
The USA Today report—authored by Kim Hjelmgaard, Rick Jervis, and Francesca Chambers—sparked widespread alarm among advocates for peace.
"This is not a drill. Trump is preparing to take the US into another illegal war against Cuba to appease the Miami mafia," Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler said Wednesday on X. "We must stop him. It’s not too late."
Cubans—who have been subjected to generations of privation and hardship due largely to the internationally condemned US economic embargo of their island—have mostly shrugged off Trump's threats, with some observers noting that Cuba's socialist era has outlasted a dozen American presidents.
Responding to a question about a possible US attack on his country, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that “if that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘Dying for the homeland is to live’.”
Numerous observers expressed shock, but not surprise, that Trump—the self-proclaimed "peace president" who has bombed 10 countries, more than any other US president—is setting his sights on Cuba, which American presidents since Thomas Jefferson have coveted.
Trump has been threatening Cuba since his first administration, when he systematically rolled back the Obama administration's diplomatic normalization with the island's socialist government. He also activated a provision of the Helms-Burton Act allowing lawsuits over property confiscated after the Cuban Revolution.
On the last day of his first term, Trump re-designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, a move critics slammed as absurd given that Cuba has never carried out any acts of terrorism—unlike the United States and the militant Cuban exiles it harbors, who have a decadeslong record of terrorist bombings and other attacks, as well as numerous failed or aborted attempts to assassinate former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
Since returning to office, Trump has ratcheted up military threats and economic pressure on Cuba, which was already reeling from decades of US sanctions and the inefficiencies of centralized state control. Trump tightened the embargo by severely restricting fuel imports, exacerbating an energy emergency characterized by blackouts and deadly suffering among the most vulnerable Cubans, including sick people and children.
Last month, US Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced a war powers resolution aimed at preventing Trump from attacking Cuba without congressional authorization as required by law. Numerous war powers resolutions related to Iran, Venezuela, and Trump's extralegal high-seas boat bombings have failed to pass.
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International Convoys Deliver Aid to Cuba as Russian Tanker Moves to Defy US Oil Blockade
"People are looking at Trump's siege of this island with horror," said convoy organizer David Adler. "They understand... if it's successfully applied on a small, peaceful island nation like Cuba, they could be next."
Mar 19, 2026
As the United States strangles Cuba with an economic blockade, a convoy of activists from around the world is seeking to break it by traveling to the island with more than five tons of humanitarian aid.
The “Nuestra America Convoy” began arriving on the island on Wednesday with more than five tons of desperately needed supplies valued at more than $570,000.
Progressive International, the transnational left-wing organization that organized the campaign, said on Thursday that it had already delivered several tons of medical supplies to hospitals around Havana. They included cancer drugs, antibiotics, pain medication, surgical materials, and treatments for chronic conditions.
Attempts are also underway to directly defy the US oil blockade. On Wednesday, The Guardian reported that a sanctioned Russian tanker had set sail for Cuba with more than 730,000 barrels of crude oil and was expected to make landfall on March 23. Cuba has not imported any oil since January 9.
The activists arrived in Cuba days after the island was roiled by a total blackout amid the American blockade, which has effectively cut off 90% of its fuel imports—disrupting everything from medical care to food harvesting to garbage collection.
President Donald Trump enacted the blockade in January via an executive order, threatening to place tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba in a bid to cripple the island's economy and force regime change, after more than 60 years of a crushing US embargo.
As the crisis on the island escalated this week, the president threatened to take the island outright, saying he could "do anything I want with it."
"The consequences of the US blockade are lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick," the organizers of the convoy said. "That is why we are mobilizing by air, land, and sea in solidarity with the Cuban people."
The project began as a small flotilla, but has morphed into a much broader effort and attracted support from well-known public figures, including former UK Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Other famous faces, including the Swedish humanitarian and climate activist Greta Thunberg, the journalists Ryan Grim and Owen Jones, the left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, and the Irish rap group Kneecap, are also expected to travel to Cuba as part of the convoy.
More than 120 activists from at least 19 countries touched down with the convoy's first delegation at Havana's airport on Wednesday. But they are just the first of several groups expected to arrive in the coming days.
Several more vessels from Mexico are expected to arrive on the island on Saturday, carrying "food, medicine, and essential supplies." In total, activists with the effort hope to transport 20 tons of aid.
"When we first put out this call to respond to the aggravated humanitarian crisis on the island, thousands of people heard that call," said David Adler, the co-coordinator of Progressive International.
"People are looking at Trump's siege of this island with horror," he said, "not only because it has disastrous consequences... but also because they understand that this really barbaric tactic of a siege, if it's successfully applied on a small, peaceful island nation like Cuba, they could be next."
The activists involved in the effort have said they took inspiration from the Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to break Israel's siege of Gaza with humanitarian aid last fall. However, the effort to provide aid to Cuba is very different.
Whereas the ships attempting to enter Gaza were intercepted by the Israeli military, activists entering Cuba are unlikely to face physical danger, as the blockade is not being enforced militarily and the Cuban government has welcomed their arrival.
(Video by The National)
Nathan J. Robinson and Alex Skopic, editors of the American left-wing magazine Current Affairs, who are traveling to Cuba as part of the convoy on Friday, said in an article published earlier this week they were outraged by the lack of action taken by the US government and other governments around the world, especially since it's "perfectly legal to bring humanitarian supplies to the island."
"The fact that it’s fallen to a handful of activists to carry out this work should bring shame to every elected official, everywhere in the world, who hasn’t launched a ship full of supplies to Havana," they said. "If this mission becomes a big enough international news story, perhaps more governments can be pressured to do exactly that."
"Beyond food, medicine, and energy infrastructure, this mission sends a message. As Americans, we want to make it crystal clear that the Trump administration does not speak for us, and we’re sickened by what Trump and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio are doing to the Cuban people in the name of US foreign policy," they continued. "We’re determined to do what we can, and we’re going to make sure the people of Cuba do not stand alone."
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People Across Global South Condemn 'Imperialist' US-Israeli War on Iran
"No to war, no to regime change, no to oppression," said one South African labor federation.
Mar 03, 2026
People, groups, and governments across the Global South this week condemned the US-Israeli war on Iran, which one prominent international progressive organization slammed as "devoid of any legal justification."
The attack on Iran sparked large protests in countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, and Turkey, with demonstrators taking to squares and streets to condemn what many called a war of imperialist aggression waged by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
In South Africa—which is leading a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—labor, leftist, student, and Muslim groups are among those denouncing the war.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) issued a statement Tuesday proclaiming, "No to war, no to regime change, no to oppression."
"History has taught the global working class a bitter lesson: So-called 'interventions' in the name of democracy have left behind destruction, instability, and suffering for ordinary people, never liberation," SAFTU asserted. "From Iraq to Libya, from Syria to countless other theaters of intervention, it is workers and the poor who pay the highest price."
"The future of Iran belongs to its people, not to Washington, not to Tel Aviv, and not to foreign intelligence agencies," the federation stressed.
In Pakistan, at least 23 people were killed during demonstrations across the country on Sunday, including 10 protesters outside the US consulate in Karachi. US Marines reportedly opened fire on a crowd of people who attempted to storm the facility. Eleven others were killed in the northern city of Skardu, where people set a United Nations office ablaze. Two people were also slain in capital Islamabad.
At least nine people have been killed and 50 injured in violent clashes between police and protesters at the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.
Hundreds of people had gathered to protest the killing of Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Clashes… pic.twitter.com/1QIeRjhL8M
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) March 1, 2026
The Progressive International (PI) cabinet published a statement condemning the war "in the strongest possible terms."
"The assault once again exposes the true character of US diplomacy," the group said. "Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington—mediated by Oman—were little more than a screen behind which the Trump administration coordinated an agenda of [a] 'major combat operation' under the banner of ‘Operation Epic Fury.’"
"Trump has been clear: This is a regime change offensive—devoid of any legal justification let alone authorization," the PI cabinet continued. "Trump has framed these strikes as 'preemptive,' necessary to eliminate 'imminent threats' and to defend national security. Yet Iran has made no immediate threats to the US. On the contrary, it is a long-standing ambition of the US and Israel to wage war on Iran—the lethal consequences of which will be borne by its people."
"Imperialist war does not liberate peoples—it subjugates them," the group added. "The evidence is found in the ruins of Gaza, Baghdad, and Tripoli, where bombs leveled cities and 'democracy promotion' left ashes in its wake."
Siphamandla Zondi, a professor of politics at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, told the Guardian that “this is a war of domination and subordination, therefore it has imperialist undertones and motives" and "makes the world unsafe for all of us.”
The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) issued a statement Monday calling the attack "against international law."
"The bombing in Iran has killed hundreds of people, most of them are children and civilians," the group said. "The aggression is part of the Israel-US renewed war to dominate the West Asia region and plunder their resources... For decades, the United States has armed, funded, and protected Israel’s military actions while destabilizing West Asia through sanctions, interventions, and war. The result is endless violence, displacement, and suffering for ordinary people."
"The ongoing attacks will create new waves of refugees," IMA added. "Families are forced to flee across borders that are increasingly militarized. Imperialist wars create a brutal cycle of forced migration: People are driven from their homes, safety, and future, only to face criminalization, detention, or exploitation as migrants and refugees abroad."
Indian-born academic Amitav Acharya, author of The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West, said in an interview with the Guardian that “many countries in the Global South are going to look for a coalition of powers that will stand up to the United States, as the United States is seen as so aggressive, so imperial."
Protests across India against Khamenei’s killing https://aje.news/nbir8t
[image or embed]
— Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) March 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM
That sentiment was echoed across the developing world. In Brazil, the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) said: "Trump is a threat to the world. This is a criminal violation of Iranian sovereignty and international law."
"To justify the war, the United States lies by stating that Iran threatens the American people and the world," the party continued. "We already know this story: The 'weapons of mass destruction' of Iraq... have never been found. Trump invades Iran to defend American neocolonial interests and to give a message to the world that the American government does not accept the existence of independent countries in the world system."
"Once again, US imperialism and Israeli Zionism elect the path of war and barbarism, bombing civilian facilities and killing innocents," PSOL added. "We demand an immediate end to the bombing and express our total solidarity with the Iranian people."
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We Must Stop This Brutal, Imperialist War!
Marco Rubio made it clear in Munich: the US does not wage war for freedom, but for recolonization—whether in West Asia, or across the Western Hemisphere.
Mar 03, 2026
We, the Cabinet of the Progressive International, condemn in the strongest possible terms the US-Israel military assault on Iran—a devastating escalation that has already killed scores of civilians and propelled the world towards war.
The assault once again exposes the true character of US diplomacy. Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington—mediated by Oman—were little more than a screen behind which the Trump administration coordinated an agenda of “major combat operations” under the banner of ‘Operation Epic Fury.’
Trump has been clear: This is a regime change offensive—devoid of any legal justification let alone authorization. Trump has framed these strikes as “pre-emptive,” necessary to eliminate “imminent threats,” and to defend national security. Yet Iran has made no immediate threats to the US. On the contrary, it is a longstanding ambition of the US and Israel to wage war on Iran—the lethal consequences of which will be borne by its people.
These strikes did not begin today. They are an extension of a longer project to redraw the map of West Asia by force. From Afghanistan to Iraq, Libya to Syria, Yemen to Iran, each escalation is a stepping stone in a broader project to suffocate regional sovereignty in the service of US and Israeli interests. Each has left behind shattered states, displaced populations, and the wreckage of societies that dared to assert independence.
Imperialist war does not liberate peoples—it subjugates them. The evidence is found in the ruins of Gaza, Baghdad, and Tripoli, where bombs leveled cities and “democracy promotion” left ashes in its wake. Marco Rubio made it clear in Munich: the US does not wage war for freedom, but for recolonization—whether in West Asia, or across the Western Hemisphere.
We refuse to remain passive observers of this project to recolonize the planet. From the Cabinet of the Progressive International, we commit to working with members and allies across the world—in their factories and ports, parliaments and courts—to break the war machine that propels our species toward extinction.
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Will Others Follow? Spain Denies Use of Its Bases to US Military for Iran Attacks
"Europe should close all of the US bases on its soil," said one US foreign policy critic.
Mar 02, 2026
The Spanish government has blocked the US military from using its bases to launch attacks on Iran, forcing American aircraft to leave the country.
Speaking at the annual Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona on Sunday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denounced that US war on Iran, which was completely unprovoked.
"Remember that one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime," Sánchez said, "and at the same time be against a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous, and outside international law. That one should be against a war initiated without authorization from the US Congress or the UN Security Council."
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Iran:
“Remember that one can be against a hateful regime, as is the case with the Iranian regime … and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law.” pic.twitter.com/Nv0V4pfXeG
— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) March 2, 2026
According to a Monday report in the Guardian, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized after Sánchez's speech that Spanish military bases will not be used "for anything that is not in the agreement [with the US], nor for anything that isn’t covered by the UN charter."
In the wake of the Spanish government's announcement, anti-war campaigners demanded that other European nations take similar stances.
"Europe should close all of the US bases on its soil," wrote David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. "There can be no 'strategic autonomy' while the United States maintains the ability to commit wanton violence from imperial installations on European territory."
Alex Soros, chairman of Open Society Foundations, said that more nations should follow in Spain's footsteps in trying to curb US aggression.
"Why aren’t more Europeans standing up to an illegal war!" Soros wrote. "Same with Canada! They make nice speeches at conferences, but do little. Spain is becoming the leader of the free world!"
Clare Daly, an Irish former member of European Parliament, encouraged her country to do its part to deny the US a base for airstrikes.
"Spain has denied the US military any use of its territory to carry out unlawful acts of aggression against Iran," Daly wrote. "Yesterday [Human Rights Organization] Shannonwatch documented two US Air Force Hercules C-130H aircraft landing at Shannon Airport. Is the government going to do anything to uphold Ireland's international responsibilities?"
Alan McLeod, senior staff writer at MintPress News, quipped that the Spanish government "continues to provide more resistance to Trump's agenda than all Democrats combined."
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'We Are Sailing to Cuba': Humanitarian Coalition Announces Flotilla to Break US Blockade
"Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination," said the mission's organizers.
Feb 12, 2026
As the Trump administration tightens an already devastating economic embargo of Cuba by targeting the island's fuel imports in a bid to topple the country's socialist government, a coalition of progressive groups on Thursday announced plans for a flotilla to deliver food, medicine, and other essential supplies to the besieged Cuban people.
Members of Progressive International, CodePink, and other direct action and advocacy groups plan to set sail for Cuba next month in the Nuestra América—or Our America—Flotilla, which they said is inspired by the Global Sumud Flotilla missions to break Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza amid the ongoing genocide in the Palestinian exclave.
"We are sailing to Cuba, bringing critical humanitarian aid for its people," the flotilla organizers said on their website. "The Trump administration is strangling the island, cutting off fuel, flights, and critical supplies for survival. The consequences are lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick."
"That is why we are launching the Nuestra América Flotilla, setting sail from across the Caribbean Sea in solidarity with the Cuban people," the organizers continued. "And we are asking for your support, to help us prepare the mission and purchase the food and medicine that we will bring to the Cuban people."
"Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination," they added.
The announcement of the flotilla came as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on Cuba's socialist government by further suffocating the island's economy via an oil embargo similar to the one imposed on Venezuela before last month's US invasion and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
At the time, President Donald Trump threatened the leaders of Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico that they could be next.
Trump reversed former President Joe Biden's eleventh-hour move in January 2025 to remove Cuba from the US state sponsors of terrorism list, a designation utterly divorced from reality. Trump officials have cited Cuba's baseless inclusion on the list as justification for measures taken against the country's government and people.
The US embargo on Cuba dates to the early 1960s when the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations responded to the successful revolution that overthrew a brutal US-backed dictatorship with a blockade accompanied by a decadeslong campaign of state-sponsored terrorism against the Cuban people that left thousands dead and more than $1 trillion in economic damages, according to the Cuban government.
Every year since 1992—with the exception of the Covid-19 pandemic year of 2020—the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn and call for an end to the US blockade of Cuba.
Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler told El País' Veronica Garrido Thursday, "The US government is drowning the Cuban people, who are running out of light, have no food, no medicine, no energy."
"I do not exaggerate when I say that we are seeing in Cuba the same playbook that Israel applied to the people of Gaza: an encirclement, an act of collective punishment that violates every aspect of international law,” he continued.
"We hope that [the flotilla] will be a mechanism of popular pressure to the governments of the world that have the responsibility, before international law, to protect the fundamental rights of the Cuban people and export the energy required by the island,” Adler said.
“There is nothing illegal about what we are doing," he added. "We are coming to a sovereign country and delivering humanitarian aid. We are ready to take risks in the name of humanity and the fundamental right of the Cuban people."
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To Stand Against US Aggression, the World Must Rise for Cuba
The latest escalation of the US blockade against Cuba — in the form of an executive order authorizing punitive tariffs on any country that dares supply oil to the island—is a cruel and criminal act of economic warfare that will bring nothing but starvation, deprivation, and despair to its people.
Feb 04, 2026
We will not mince words. The 'policy' of the Trump administration is a total siege: a modern mechanism for collective punishment designed to strangle life itself by cutting off fuel for hospitals, schools, water, transport, and food distribution.
Cuba already faces severe fuel shortages, with blackouts stretching daily and essential services collapsing under the weight of sanctions and depleted imports. Cuba’s remaining oil stocks could run out in mere weeks, threatening the lives of millions who have done nothing to justify this escalation.
This is the culmination of a long-standing strategy articulated in US law — from the expansive embargo codified by the Helms–Burton Act in the 1990s to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations first enforced in the 1960s — that openly sought to apply “maximum pressure” to force political transformation in Havana and defeat a vanguard in the struggle against the US's hemispheric domination.
Now, with this new Executive Order, the logic of siege has reached its apotheosis: sanction not only Cuba but every nation that dares show solidarity, effectively demanding that sovereign states choose between the interests of their own people and the dictates of an empire.
Cuba stood with oppressed peoples globally — from defeating apartheid in South Africa to sending doctors to the frontlines of epidemics — and now it is our time to act with audacity, moral courage, and collective force.
Already Mexico — Cuba’s last significant oil lifeline — has been pressed into uncertainty, warned that continued support could trigger tariffs on its economy. In doing so, Trump has revealed so-called 'secondary sanctions' as the empire's principal weapon against international solidarity.
Trump has been clear: this siege is but a springboard toward regime change. It is the same strategic blueprint that saw Venezuela’s sovereignty undermined, its oil lifelines severed, its people plunged into crisis while the world stood by in lethargy.
We cannot repeat that failure. The international community was too slow to prevent the bombardment of Caracas; we must not be passive while the groundwork is laid for similar violence against the people of Cuba.
If Cuba is to survive as an independent nation it will be because of the continued resilience and vitality of its revolutionary project — and the solidarity of movements and nations around the world defying empire and rising to challenge this injustice.
We must organize community support networks, coordinate diplomatic resistance, demand that governments refuse to enforce secondary tariffs, and amplify Cuban voices against this assault on international law, human dignity, and basic human rights.
Those efforts, both from within and beyond the Progressive International, must accelerate — today. History will judge those who saw this moment and turned away. Cuba stood with oppressed peoples globally — from defeating apartheid in South Africa to sending doctors to the frontlines of epidemics — and now it is our time to act with audacity, moral courage, and collective force.
Stand with the Cuban people now; stand against this siege, this economic assault, this unfolding humanitarian disaster; join together in the provision of key supplies to the island, from medicine to food to fuel for its people; and stand for the right of all nations to self-determination and human dignity, or be complicit in its destruction.
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Cuba Condemns Trump Claim That It Poses ‘Extraordinary Threat’ to US
The White House accused Cuba of supporting terrorist groups as the Trump administration cut off much of the island's energy supply and threatened countries with tariffs if they continue to send Cuba oil.
Feb 02, 2026
Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said the country is open to expanding "bilateral cooperation" with the US, following President Donald Trump's comments that the White House is "going to make a deal with Cuba"—but diplomatic officials emphasized that they vehemently reject Trump's recent accusations that they harbor terrorists and pose an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the US.
"Cuba categorically declares that it does not harbor, support, finance, or permit terrorist or extremist organizations," said the ministry.
The statement was released days after the White House issued an executive order to address what it called threats that Cuba poses to the US, threatening to impose new tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
Trump's invasion of Venezuela—which had been the top energy supplier to Cuba—and his push to take control of the South American country's oil has left Cuba's economy struggling with a virtual energy blockade and rolling blackouts. The US has also been pressuring Mexico to stop supplying energy to the island nation, prompting fears of a potential humanitarian crisis.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said last month that the US has the right to take over any country if doing so furthers its interests, and said the Trump administration should "secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere."
In the executive order last week, the president made sweeping accusations against Cuba, claiming that it provides support for countries including Russia and China—though the Trump administration has also sought improved relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping—and offering no evidence for the allegation that it also supports Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Cuban storytelling platform Belly of the Beast called the accusation "laughable, if it weren't so serious," and spoke to some of the hundreds of Palestinian medical students who are studying to be doctors at the Latin American School of Medicine and other institutions.
"The vast majority of Palestinians in Cuba are medical students," said Ihab Masri, who is studying there alongside students from about 100 other countries. "Trump is a person who says he stopped 10 or 12 wars... a person who not only justifies but also denies the genocide in Gaza that they commit and have committed. You can't trust someone like that."
In his attempt to block oil shipments to Cuba, Donald Trump now claims the country is a safe haven for Hamas and Hezbollah, without presenting any evidence. Cubans say it’s complete nonsense. The real story? Hundreds of Palestinian students training to be doctors in Havana. pic.twitter.com/3X24dhF6mN
— Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) February 1, 2026
Trump's executive order also accused Cuba of spreading "its communist ideas, policies, and practices around the Western Hemisphere, threatening the foreign policy of the United States."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday emphasized that "Cuba does not host foreign military or intelligence bases and rejects the characterization that it is a threat to the security of the United States. Nor has it supported any hostile activity against that country, nor will it allow its territory to be used against another nation."
The US has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for more than six decades and has had hostile relations with the country since the communist revolution gave rise to the late President Fidel Castro and overthrew authoritarian leader Fulgencio Batista, who was backed by the US.
US Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García (D-Ill.) warned that Trump's "latest economic assault against the island is designed to cause a humanitarian collapse, deepening our collective punishment of the Cuban people and forcing more migration."
"Cuba poses no threat to the United States, but that’s not the point. Trump is manufacturing an excuse for cruelty and regime change," added the congressman, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) denounced Trump's executive order as "pure cruelty" that could "kill countless innocent Cubans."
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that Trump's threat against countries that continue to supply energy "reveals the fascist, criminal, and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal ends."
On Monday, the global organization Progressive International joined Cuban officials in denouncing Trump's executive order as a "cruel and criminal act of economic warfare that will bring nothing but starvation, deprivation, and despair to [Cuba's] people."
"With this new executive order, the logic of siege has reached its apotheosis: Sanction not only Cuba but every nation that dares show solidarity, effectively demanding that sovereign states choose between the interests of their own people and the dictates of an empire," said the Cabinet of Progressive International.
The group called on the international community to "coordinate diplomatic resistance, demand that governments refuse to enforce secondary tariffs, and amplify Cuban voices against this assault on international law, human dignity, and basic human rights."
"History will judge those who saw this moment and turned away. Cuba stood with oppressed peoples globally—from defeating apartheid in South Africa to sending doctors to the frontlines of epidemics—and now it is our time to act with audacity, moral courage, and collective force," said Progressive International."
"Stand with the Cuban people now," the group added. "Stand against this siege, this economic assault, this unfolding humanitarian disaster; join together in the provision of key supplies to the island, from medicine to food to fuel for its people; and stand for the right of all nations to self-determination and human dignity, or be complicit in its destruction."
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