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

David Escobar
Notes from the Backyard: Is the Fall of the Transnational Vampires Beginning?
11 November 2026
The Democratic takeover of both houses of Congress in the 2026 midterms is a check on Trump's executive overreach rather than a moral
John Perry
Trump renews designation of Nicaragua as an ‘extraordinary threat’
11 November 2026
Washington cut off $500 million in annual loans, sanctioned officials, threatened trade, and even discouraged cruise ships from docking, and Ni
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

More Stories


  • Policing the Police in the East Bay Area
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Policing the Police in the East Bay Area
    23 Aug 2023
    Acts of police brutality and other forms of misconduct are common throughout the country. The East Bay Area of California is exceptional only in that some officers have been indicted for a…
  • Mosaic: An Interview with August K. Clayton
    August K. Clayton , Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    Mosaic: An Interview with August K. Clayton
    23 Aug 2023
    Mosaic: An Interview with August K. Clayton
  • Sara Flounders , Joe Lombardo
    RESPONSE TO: Lawrence S. Wittner’s “Spinning Illusions: The Anti-American Left and the Ukraine War” – a new McCarthyism
    23 Aug 2023
    Recently articles have appeared on the front page of the New York Times that try to smear Code Pink, The People’s Forum and TriContinental as Chinese agents. The Times article was followed by a…
  • Yes! An NFL Player Can Be Exploited
    Gus Griffin
    Yes! An NFL Player Can Be Exploited
    23 Aug 2023
    Michael Oher’s story of exploitation is even worse than the white savior narrative presented by Hollywood.
  • Case studies: US military assistance in Africa doesn’t work
    Jim Lobe
    Case studies: US Military Assistance in Africa Doesn’t Work
    23 Aug 2023
    ​​​​​​​Authors of a new report worry that Washington won’t heed their warnings but double down in an era of Great Power Competition.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us