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
Why Several Latin American Countries Abstained at UN Vote on US Blockade Against Cuba
04 November 2026
The collapse in support for the UN resolution against the U.S.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: O.A.S., Roque Dalton, circa 1970
28 October 2026
“The President of the United States is more/ the President of my country/ than the President of my country.”
Francy Natalia Mosquera Garcia , Caroline Shenaz Hossein
Afro-Colombian Women and the Making of the Black Social Economy
28 October 2026
Colombia's constitution recognizes Black communities as collective rights-holders, but extractivism and dispossession have undermined
Ricardo Vaz
Western Media Accept Trump’s Plundering of Venezuelan Oil as Business as Usual
28 October 2026
Venezuelanalysis editor Ricardo Vaz exposes how the media establishment presents no principled opposition to the imperialist predation of Venez
Geraldina Colotti
Lula wins in Brazil, but the far right won’t back down
28 October 2026
Lula's narrow runoff victory over Flávio Bolsonaro preserved Brazil as one of the last bulwarks against the far right in Latin America, a victo
Jacqueline Luqman
The World Rises Up Against the U.S. Neoliberal Order
21 October 2026
The protests spreading across Spain, India, France, Chile, and other countries are responses to the global neoliberal order of auster
Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Joshua Reaves Charmelus
At the "Foro Internacional Por La Paz," delegates from around the world demand an end to US Interference in Latin America
21 October 2026
Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, and Costa Rica have all elected right-wing presidents in the past year, and most are open T
Orinoco Tribune
Colombia’s First National Strike Against De la Espriella Met With Police Crackdown
21 October 2026
Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Wednesday in the first national strike against President Abelardo de la Espriella’s
Issa G Shivji
Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
21 October 2026
As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereig

More Stories


  • Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
    13 Dec 2023
    Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
  • Fists in the air
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Musings from the Margins #4: Black Lackeys, White Social Democrats, Human Rights and Empire’s Decline
    13 Dec 2023
    Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist Ajamu Baraka has thoughts on Black Misleadership, faux human rights, the decline of the Empire, white Social Democrats, and other issues.
  • Pro-Palestinian protestors rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    One State Reality
    13 Dec 2023
    Recognizing the one state reality of Israel-Palestine instead of two-state dreaming would be a huge paradigm shift with huge implications.
  • Joy James speaking on a panel at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice's Carceral State Reading
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Joy James’ Book, “New Bones Abolition”
    13 Dec 2023
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Joy James. Dr. James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College.…
  • Mia Mottley of the Barbados Labor Party
    Keston K. Perry
    The Mirage of Mia Mottley’s ‘Progressive’ Politics
    13 Dec 2023
    Despite the praise she receives for being the “progressive” leader needed in the Caribbean, Mia Mottley and her policies in Barbados and her work within CARICOM have not veered outside the realm of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us