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


  • Economic Freedom Fighters Statement on the Death of Queen Elizabeth
    Sinawo Thambo, Leigh-Ann Mathys, Sixolise Gcilishe
    Economic Freedom Fighters Statement on the Death of Queen Elizabeth
    14 Sep 2022
    The brutal history of British imperialism should not be forgotten in the wake of the Queen's death. The South African organization, Economic Freedom Fighters, recounts the many crimes…
  • The Global Fragility Act: Washington’s New Tool for Controlling an Indomitable Haiti
    Travis Ross
    The Global Fragility Act: Washington’s New Tool for Controlling an Indomitable Haiti
    14 Sep 2022
    Haiti is the first target of the Global Fragility Act. Haiti's "fragility" is caused by decades of U.S. interference, and the restoration of its sovereignty is the way to resolve that nation's …
  • Chile’s Boric Is Becoming More Right Wing by the Day
    Carlos Aznárez
    Chile’s Boric Is Becoming More Right Wing by the Day
    14 Sep 2022
    Chilean president Gabriel Boric was hailed as a leftist leader. In fact, his administration has joined the U.S. in condemning Latin America's revolutionary leaders, and voters rejected his …
  • Latin Americans Reject Resource Plundering by Same NATO Countries Fueling Military Conflict in Ukraine
    Camila Escalante
    Latin Americans Reject Resource Plundering by Same NATO Countries Fueling Military Conflict in Ukraine
    14 Sep 2022
    Liberals in the U.S. may be confused, but the Latin America left are clear that the NATO alliance is their adversary and that its actions must be opposed everywhere in the world.
  • Black Agenda Radio September 9, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 9, 2022
    09 Sep 2022
    Racism and political corruption in Mississippi, how U.S. sanctions impact Black Cubans and the entire country, and the first of a two part discussion on Black politics in San Francisco.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us