Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

U.S. Takes Aim at President Gustavo Petro, but He's Akin to a Rock Star in Colombia
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Dan Kovalik
25 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article

All eyes are now fixed on the US-Israeli War on Iran, so there's been little attention to US moves to undermine Colombian President Gustavo Petro. These could, at worst, see Petro in a US prison alongside Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the US kidnapped on January 3rd. I spoke to attorney and author Dan Kovalik, President Petro’s legal representative in the US and in international courts. We agreed that, as peace and justice activists, we need to understand this as another front in a global war to crush dissidence and re-establish the hegemony of neoliberalism and US empire. He said that President Petro is akin to a rock star in Colombia where huge crowds turn out to meet him in public.

Ann Garrison is a Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann@anngarrison.com. You can help support her work on Patreon.

Daniel Kovalik is a lawyer focusing particularly on human rights and a prolific author. He taught International Human Rights Law at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012-2023. His most recent books are "The Case for Palestine: Why it Matters and Why You Should Care," and "Syria: Anatomy of a Regime Change."

Colombia
Gustavo Petro
Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro
Neoliberalism
imperialism
Latin America

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Orinoco Tribune
‘To the Victor Belong the Spoils’: Trump Flaunts US Plunder of Venezuela
11 August 2026
The U.S. is not shy about proclaiming its control of Venezuela and its resources.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Venezuela, Memory, and the Long Arc of U.S. Imperialism
29 July 2026
Memories of a sovereign Venezuela collide with the reality that it is now a U.S. vassal state.
Carlos Aznárez
Zionist Expansionism in Latin America
22 July 2026
Free trade deals, water contracts, and military training programs are quietly binding one Latin American government after another to Tel Aviv.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The White Supremacist Imperative on Violence: A Black Radical Perspective on the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination
15 July 2026
The U.S.-EU-NATO axis remains intact, and its commitment to militarism represents an existential threat to the world.
Gary Wilson
Pentagon Turns Earthquake Into Occupation of Venezuela
15 July 2026
The same U.S.
Hanna Eid
Sovereignty and Strategic Depth
08 July 2026
The U.S.
Jacqueline Luqman
Disaster Capitalism In Haiti Gives A Glimpse Into the Imperialist Shock Doctrine That Could Rattle Venezuela Long After The Earthquakes
01 July 2026
The U.S.
Clau O'Brien Moscoso
Fujimorismo 2.0: The Age of Keiko Fujimori: The Hard Right Advances in Latin America and the Caribbean, strengthening the Shield of the Americas
01 July 2026
Keiko Fujimori won the Peruvian presidency with help from the U.S. ambassador. Her victory solidifies the U.S.
North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights
Resisting U.S. Human Rights Barbarism: The Arrest of Alyssa Philip In Trinidad and Tobago
24 June 2026
A protest leader in Trinidad was arrested during Labour Day celebrations for the crime of demanding justice for a paralyzed shooting
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Sportswashing: How Capitalism Kills the Game for Poor and Working Class People While Normalizing How Imperialism Oppresses and Kills Them
17 June 2026
A single working mother could once take her child to a Yankees game for $40, but today that money would not even cover the online ser

More Stories


  • Biden Lies at the United Nations
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden Lies at the United Nations
    28 Sep 2022
    U.S. presidents routinely violate international law and the United Nations Charter. Yet every year they appear before that body and proclaim American innocence.
  • On the International Day of Peace September 21st, The U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination Reaffirmed Its’ Commitment to the Weapon of War
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    On the International Day of Peace September 21st, The U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination Reaffirmed Its’ Commitment to the Weapon of War
    28 Sep 2022
    "End Racism: Build Peace" was the theme of the 2022 International Day of Peace. That noble sentiment can't be realized when powerful white supremacist structures are committed to practicing hegemony.
  • COMMENTARY: The Audacity of Hopelessness, John Maxwell, 2009
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    COMMENTARY: The Audacity of Hopelessness, John Maxwell, 2009
    28 Sep 2022
    The late Jamaican journalist John Maxwell on imperialism, underdevelopment, and the foreign love affair with Haiti’s misery.
  • The "Leftism" of the Americas Collapses at the Door of Haitian Sovereignty
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    The "Leftism" of the Americas Collapses at the Door of Haitian Sovereignty
    28 Sep 2022
    While many are celebrating the potential rise of another “Pink Tide” in Latin America and the emergence of a truly multipolar world, it seems clear that the fight for Haitian sovereignty will c
  • Saladin Muhammad Presente!
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Saladin Muhammad Presente!
    28 Sep 2022
    Saladin Muhammad was the founder of Black Workers for Justice. He played a key role in developing Black revolutionary labor organizing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us