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

​​​​​​​ 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
2026 Casa Ben Linder Bluefields Delegation
Nicaragua and The Miseducation of the People of the United States
17 June 2026
Nicaragua is a living example of anti-imperialist resistance and people-centered development. The job of those in the U.S.
Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies
Luis Britto García: I resist, therefore I am
17 June 2026
"We all know what lies behind the deafening silence that oppresses us.
Clau O'Brien Moscoso
Bolivia in Crisis pt 2: In Conversation with Evo Morales
10 June 2026
In a Black Agenda Report exclusive on May 29, 2026, former Bolivian president Evo Morales Ayma spoke with correspondent Clau O’Brien

More Stories


  • Raymond Nat Turner
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Dis-honest Broker
    01 May 2024
    "Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!NYC at Sister's Bookstore in Harlem, NY. The show was a celebration of National Poetry and Jazz…
  • VOA Burkina Faso mural
    Netfa Freeman
    Is U.S. Imperialism Maneuvering Toward “Humanitarian Intervention” in Burkina Faso?
    01 May 2024
    As Burkina Faso attempts to move away from neo-colonial domination by France and the United States, the possibility of intervention via "humanitarian" channels grows more likely.
  • Alliance of Sahel States
    The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa
    For the Defense of the Alliance of Sahel States, for Revolutionary Pan-Africanism
    01 May 2024
    The Coalition for the Elimination of Imperialism in Africa, calls on all of us to stand in support of the Alliance of Sahel States, which is clearing the way for the unification of Africa.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    Palestinian Casualties in Gaza Mount
    01 May 2024
    The United States Congress and administration agree to allocate over $95 billion for wars around the world.
  • Report on New York Times memo on the Gaza war
    Ramzy Baroud
    Cruelty of Language: Leaked NY Times Memo Reveals Moral Depravity of US Media
    01 May 2024
    The recent leak of a New York Times memo reveals its unethical journalistic practices and the organization's commitment to upholding the state line on support for Zionism.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us