Political news website La Silla Vacia has been linked to a far-right propaganda campaign that has been paid for by some of Colombia’s most reactionary corporations.

The campaign, “Project Jupiter,” has been organizing “democracy workshops” for tens of thousands of workers and has been publishing content online to generate “fear / indignation / uncertainty” among voters ahead of the presidential vote.

Among Project Jupiter’s “digital agencies” is La Silla Vacia, according to a flyer that was made public by Raya magazine and the investigative journalism program of public television network RTVC.

In an audio, the director of the propaganda campaign, former Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez, said that “we have digital agencies—namely [libertarian think tank] Libertank and La Silla Vacia—which are enabling us to scale up at an incredible rate.”

Project Jupiter was able to reach 17 million people in all of Colombia’s 32 provinces because of the collaboration of the digital platforms, which also included several public relations firms, Bermudez said.

When asked about the collaboration with La Silla Vacia, the former foreign minister told Raya that Project Jupiter was allowed to publish their content on platforms owned by the political news website.

In a response, La Silla Vacia denied being a part of the propaganda efforts that seek to promote libertarian ideals and dissuade people from voting for the leftist frontrunner in the elections, Ivan Cepeda, and his far-right opponent Abelardo de la Espriella.

According to the website, “these so-called journalistic exposés are part of a smear campaign.”

The scandal broke days after the campaign of far-right candidate Paloma Valencia published images of a meeting between campaign managers and investor of Banco Santander, including La Silla Vacia founder Juanita Leon.

In response to those images, Leon said that she accidentally ended up at the campaign meeting.

La Silla Vacia had already come under fire after Cepeda accused them of being part of an opposition campaign to smear him, a claim also denied by Leon and her influential website.

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Ecuadorian-Colombian border dispute continues to escalate: Petro threatens legal action

As elections approach in Colombia, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa is ratcheting up attacks on his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro. Following Ecuador raising tariffs on Colombian imports into the country to 100%, Naboa has now accused Petro of indirect connections to the accused Ecuadorian narco Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito.”

Naboa claims that Petro knows members of the Ecuadorian opposition, who in turn know Fico. He presented no proof for his admittedly somewhat childish accusation.

Petro has denied the claims and threatened to sue Noboa for libel. Under Ecuadorian law, libel is illegal and punishable by up to a 6-month jail term, though it is unlikely prosecutors would go after a sitting president.

Colombia has imposed retaliatory sanctions on Ecuador.

Meanwhile, the trade war between the two countries is increasing clandestine smuggling of goods across the border as transporters and merchants try to avoid the sanctions.

Residents in the borderlands say the increased traffic of irregular crossings is aiding cocaine smugglers who operate in the region. Noboa and Petro have both accused each other of aiding criminality on their respective frontiers.

The story bears watching as Ecuador conducts aggressive military operations that have at times spilled over into Colombia and violated the human rights of Ecuadorians. They have also not resulted in security gains within Ecuador.

US eases sanctions on Venezuela as IMF and World Bank say they will open up credit lines

The United States has eased sanctions on Venezuela’s central bank that the country imposed in 2019. The moves allow for formal financing between the two countries as well as increased US dollar flows for trade.

Now that Venezuela is effectively a US protectorate, The US treasury department issued a licence authorizing commercial links with the Venezuelan state-run central bank and a number of other major state-run Venezuelan financial institutions.

The sanctions had put considerable pressure on Venezuelan international finance, forcing the country to find ways to import US dollars. They also greatly exacerbated the country’s ongoing financial crisis.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Thursday that they would also resume business with the country in an announcement that was followed shortly by the World Bank as well.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who was installed by the US after former president Nicolas Maduro was captured in an attack on Caracas by US forces, hailed the announcements as “a grand diplomatic victory for Venezuela.”

It would seem that the US has formally decided Venezuela is open for business.

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Peruvian election update: it ain’t over yet

After challenges by candidates, balloting problems in Lima, and the arrest of at least election officials, Peru’s electoral authority has announced that presidential election results will not be finalized until at least mid-May.

With 93 percent of ballots counted, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori leads with 17 percent, according to officials.

The second-place position, however, has been fraught with dramatic turns as well as dramatic accusations. Left-wing candidate, Roberto Sanchez, on 12 percent, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga close behind on 11.98 percent — they are separated in the latest count by a mere 13,000 votes.

There are currently 15,000 ballots being challenged.

Aliaga, the ultra-right former mayor of the capital Lima, has been the most vocal critic of the delay. He has alleged fraud without presenting evidence and called for the election to be annulled.

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DHS is spying on US Citizens with powerful Israeli cyber weapon

DHS is using powerful spyware cyber weapon Graphite to surveil suspected migrants, journalists, activists, and critics, according to an official DHS response to members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform after they requested information on surveillance by ICE.

Graphite is a more modern and powerful version of Pegasus, which is banned in the United States. The app can be deployed remotely, physically, embedded in texts or photos, or installed over networks, and can hide on smartphones and record user activity, including within encrypted apps, and then delete itself.

His letter, dated April 1, was a belated response to an October inquiry from three Democratic members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressing concern about the agency’s potential use of the spyware Graphite, which was created by Israeli company Paragon Solutions.

According to NPR, which reviewed the documents, DHS wrote that ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is using various tools as part of its mission to disrupt and dismantle foreign terrorist organizations, “particularly those involved in the trafficking of fentanyl.”

Justifying the decision to spy on US citizens, the agency stated ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is using various tools as part of its mission to disrupt and dismantle foreign terrorist organizations, “particularly those involved in the trafficking of fentanyl.”

DHS has used false claims about gang affiliations, terrorism, and fentanyl to justify surveillance of both activists and migrants in the past. Perhaps most worryingly, however, the agency is deploying the tool through the use of administrative warrants, which do not require a judge to sign off, but rather can be approved by low-level officials within the agency.

Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., one of the authors of the request for information about ICE’s use of spyware, told NPR in a statement, “The response I received from ICE makes one thing clear. They are moving forward with invasive spyware technology inside the United States.

“The people most at risk, including immigrants, Black and brown communities, journalists, organizers, and anyone speaking out against government abuse, deserve more than secrecy and deflection from an agency with a long record of overreach and abuse,” Lee’s statement said.

The news follows confirmation that DHS has been assembling a database of activists and critics, with help from infamous tech company Palantir, as part of a list of “potential terrorists.”

The agency has also been using data harvested from other government agencies to identify critics and migrants, as well as private data brokers.

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ICE shoots another man. They swear this time they’re telling the truth about it

ICE shot another man last week in Stanislaus County, California. Carlos Ivan Mendoza was in critical condition at the hospital after a shooting involving federal agents Tuesday morning in Stanislaus County, the sheriff’s office said.

Federal agents claimed the man tried to “weaponize” his vehicle and run them over. It is a claim DHS has made often over the last two years. Often, they are lying.

DHS agents have shot 14 people since Trump took office, killing at least 4. Agents claimed that all of their victims but one tried to run them over, but dashcam and body camera footage have often disproven their claims.

In related news, new surveillance camera footage released by Minneapolis officials shows that DHS lied about the shooting of a Venezuelan man in the city earlier this year.

DHS agents claimed that Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and his cousin ambushed agents, and they were forced to shoot him in self-defense. Newly released footage showed that DHS officers and higher-ups “gave false testimony,” according to Minneapolis officials.

The video directly contradicts claims that DHS agents were “violently beaten” by Sosa-Celis and his cousin.

We at PWS have lost track of how many lies we have caught DHS in. Maybe we should start a weekly infographic documenting that.

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The Round-UP

• The United States has admitted 4,499 refugees into the country since October — all but three were South African. Asylum has been effectively dismantled within the US.

• ICE is attempting to force Reddit to reveal the identity of an anonymous user who has criticized the agency. The Intercept obtained a subpoena issued by federal prosecutors to the management of Reddi. Representatives of the site have been ordered to appear before a grand jury with an April 14 deadline set in an attempt to compel Reddit to volunteer personal data and the identity of a user who criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the platform. It is entirely unclear what “illegal” activity this specific user is supposed to have engaged in, other than simply expressing opinion and repeating information that had already been widely published.

• We’ve already reported that DHS is taking a softer approach after their decisive defeat by activists in Minneapolis resulted in national outrage, but the new DHS director confirmed as much in internal comments this week. NPR has more details.

• A group of 36 House Democrats has accused ICE of “disappearing“ people in their custody, as information on their whereabouts is often unavailable to their attorneys or loved ones, much less the public. DHS has responded that they cannot update their localizer software for detainees as long as the “shutdown” is in effect. All of their other activities, miraculously, are unaffected by the symbolic block.

• Migrants of irregular status are dying rather than seeking medical care and risking detention by ICE. The family of Jesús Juárez Cruz told the story of the slow death of the Mexican national, likely by alcohol poisoning, to El País. His family blames US President Donald Trump for his lack of ability to seek care.

• ICE is withdrawing from airports. They didn’t accomplish anything, but they are declaring “mission accomplished” and going home. The “shutdown”, which absolutely did not affect them, continues. More than 800 migrants were detained at airports during their deployment.

• Information continues to emerge about DHS plans to buy and rent warehouses across the country to be used as impromptu detention centers. Human Rights Watch put out a long report this week about the risks these centers pose to the rights of detainees. Meanwhile, some communities are blocking DHS from opening the concentration camps.

Resistance Photo of the Week

A DHS bid to rent a warehouse near Hagerstown, MD was fallen cancelled after tribal opposition to the project. Protests lasted for weeks before the city cancelled building permits.

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Cuba releases political prisoners as oil blockade continues: Russian tankers make deliveries

The Cuban government has begun releasing what it says will be 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island’s government with a suffocating oil blockade that has caused shortages and blackouts.

The Cuban announcement said the pardons were a “humanitarian gesture” in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the U.S.

The US has been pressuring Cuba with an oil blockade that has paralyzed large sections of the country and created a humanitarian emergency.

As the US faces rising oil prices domestically, while it wages war with Iran, however, Trump has ended sanctions on Russian oil vessels in Latin America.

Russia has sent two oil tankers to Cuba in recent days to alleviate the ongoing energy crisis.

The US has been unclear about its intentions in Cuba in recent months. In mid-March, Trump stated he would “have the honor of taking the island.” Trump has threatened to remove the current leadership in Cuba. But he has also suggested he could work with the current government if the island opens itself to US investment and reforms.

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US lifts sanctions on Venezuelan interim President

The US has ended sanctions on Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez.

Rodriguez assumed office after the US captured former President Nicolas Maduro in January.

In comments to the press shortly after the announcement, US President Donald Trump said that Rodriguez is “doing a great job and is working with the United States very well.”

The lifting of sanctions is the latest sign of warming relations between the Trump administration and Rodríguez’s team.

Her government has been largely subservient to US requests and interests since January, and has initiated efforts to open the mining and oil industries to US companies.

The US last month formally resumed diplomatic relations with Venezuela, reopening the US embassy in Caracas.

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Peru heads to elections, and Peruvians hate all the candidates

Peru will vote for a new president on April 12, amid a deep political and institutional crisis.

The Andean country held its last presidential elections in 2021, in which Pedro Castillo won. However, Castillo remained in power for only a year and a half. Since then, Peru has had three presidents, two of them chosen by Congress.

Current leader José María Balcázar is not eligible to run, as presidents need to have completed a full 5-year term to be reelected.

Peru’s crisis of representation is reflected in the highly fragmented field of candidates in the election: an unprecedented number of 35 contenders will compete. A 36th candidate died in a car crash on March 15.

None of the candidates surpass 13% of vote intention. A presidential candidate needs at least 50% of the vote to win, so there will likely be a runoff in June.

Keiko Fujimori, former congresswoman and daughter of the controversial late president Alberto Fujimori, leads the crowded field. This is her fourth presidential run.

As Peru runs through presidents, however, Congress has grown in power and become more corrupt.

The legislature has actively protected illicit economies by enacting a series of dubious reforms between 2023 and 2025. Colloquially known as the “pro-crime laws,” these have severely curtailed the investigative capacity of Peru’s Attorney General’s Office.

Congress holds a 3% approval rating in the country.

Other stories in LATAM

• The US is continuing military operations in Ecuador, despite accusations that Ecuadorian forces bombed a dairy farm and tortured workers there. Last week SOUTHCOM announced a joint land operation, presumably against narcotraffickers on the northern coast. These claims should be taken with skepticism.

• Residents in Central Mexico are blaming state owned oil company PEMEX for a massive oil spill off the coast which has killed sealife in the region. They accuse the government of lying about the origin of oil which has destroyed fishing and contaminated beaches. The spill of off the coast of the southern Veracruz state has spread more than 373 miles and into seven nature reserves.

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National Blackouts in Cuba as aid flotilla arrives

Cuba suffered an island-wide blackout on Sunday for the second time in a week on Saturday night. A US-imposed oil blockade has prevented the Caribbean nation from running generators which help support Cuba’s power grid and created a humanitarian crisis.

A coalition of international socialist groups also arrived in Cuba over the weekend, bringing with them solar panels, food supplies, and basic medicines. A flotilla carrying a larger shipment of humanitarian aid from Mexico is set to arrive in the following days.

The collapse of the electric grid also inspired protests, and some frustrated residents attacked Communist Party headquarters in the town of Morón, eventually setting fire to the building.

US President Donald Trump last week suggested there could be a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, and confirmed reports that the two countries have been holding bilateral talks.

The Cuban government has announced that they are preparing “to defend” the country from any potential US attack.

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More details emerge in DEA investigation into Petro in Colombia

The US Drug Enforcement Agency leaked information about two investigations into Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Documents sent to the Associated Press state that the DEA considers Petro a “priority target” in ongoing drug trafficking investigations.

The DEA has provided no evidence to support the allegations. Petro’s party meanwhile claims the leak is an attempt at campaign interference by the US ahead of Colombian Presidential elections which begin in May.

We broke down the details of the accusations, and the history of drug accusations against Petro by right-wing opposition politicians in Colombia, in this week’s Pirate Wire Radio episode.

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Mexican teen in DHS custody found dead

A 19-year-old Mexican national died while being held in detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency has confirmed.

DHS claimed that Royer Perez-Jimenez was found “unconscious and unresponsive” on Monday at the Glades County Detention Center in Florida.

“He died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation,” the statement adds. DHS has lied about the circumstances of deaths of people in their custody before.

Perez-Jimenez is the youngest prisoner to die in ICE custody since Donald Trump returned to office.

Perez-Jimenez was found in his cell at 02:34 on 16 March, according to ICE, which added that prison staff “immediately” began life-saving efforts.

The Mexican government denounced the death, and the deaths of other Mexican citizens, and demanded a full investigation.

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This piece is republished from our sister org Colombia Reports

At least two US federal prosecutors have opened preliminary investigations into Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Friday.

According to the US newspaper, the criminal investigations were being conducted by the US attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and would be supported by agents of Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The investigations have been trying to establish, among other things, if Petro has met with drug traffickers and if his campaign sought mafia campaign donations, three anonymous sources told the NYT.

The investigations would be in their early stages, according to the US newspaper.

It is unclear if the investigations will result in criminal charges, the NYT added.

The criminal investigations followed unsubstantiated claims of US President Donald Trump, who called his Colombian counterpart a “drug trafficking leader” amid tensions over the US involvement in the Gaza genocide and US air strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.

The Trump administration subsequently put Petro on a blacklist for drug traffickers, claiming that the Colombian president “has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.”

Petro has arguably been the most active Colombian politician when it comes to fighting the influence of organized crime in politics.

In response to allegations made by the president when he was a senator, more than 80 congressmen and governors were sent to prison because of their ties to paramilitary groups that controlled Colombia’s cocaine exports at the time.

The Truth Commission that was set up as part of a peace process with the now-defunct guerrilla group FARC confirmed that these paramilitary organizations and their drug trafficking associates worked together with US intelligence agencies like the CIA and the DEA.

The Trump administration has tried to undermine the war crimes tribunal that came with the peace process since taking office for the first time in 2017.

Supporters of Petro have framed the investigation as an attempt by the US to meddle in upcoming Colombian presidential elections.

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At a televised cabinet meeting Monday evening, Colombian President Gustavo Petro revealed the discovery of a 250 kilogram (552 pound) bomb in the municipality of Ipiales, Colombia, near the Ecuadorian border.

“We’re being bombed,” he said, explaining that the explosive artifact was Ecuadorian in origin, and linked to recent bombings Ecuador has carried out near the Colombian border in cooperation with the US military.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa denied the accusations repeatedly even as photos of the bomb circulated in the press and social media.

The bomb was discovered by a resident of Ipiales, who told AFP that he discovered the unexploded ordinance “50 or 60 meters” from his home after seeing Ecuadorian aircraft conduct a bombing near the border on March 3.

Since Monday, Petro has insisted that the bomb is from Ecuador, and continued to provide new information to support those claims, even as Noboa doubled down on his denials.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been strained since late last year, when Ecuador imposed tariffs on all Colombian goods as Noboa blamed Colombia for recent increases in crime in Ecuador.

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High-level meeting presents new hypothesis

In an effort to defuse the conflict, Colombia’s Defense Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Gian Carlo Loffredo, held a 90-minute discussion about the incident on Wednesday evening, according to statements from both governments.

Following the meeting, Colombian Minister of Defense Pedro Sanchez said the explosive was the same as explosives used by Ecuador in a military action on March 3 near the Colombian border.

Sanchez wrote that “the leading theory suggests that the bomb did not enter Colombian territory deliberately.”

Sanchez and Ecuadorian officials said their preliminary theory is that the bomb was dropped on the Ecuadorian side of the border, just a few meters from Colombia, and after it failed to detonate “bounced” into Colombian territory.

“When (the bomb) fails to explode, it continues on its trajectory due to the laws of physics.” That could explain why “it strayed several meters into Colombian territory,” said Carlos Fernando Silva, commander of the Colombian Air Force, at a press conference following the meeting.

“We do not believe anyone did this deliberately, but rather that it was due to a physical effect,” he added, explaining that the device weighs 250 kilograms and measures approximately 1.50 meters.

Although Ecuador did not specifically admit that the explosive device originated from their military forces, they did not deny statements made by Colombian officials following the meeting.

Both countries have agreed to a full investigation, with details to be made public in upcoming days.

Noboa has promised more bombings against non-state armed actors and organized crime groups in the borderlands in operations carried out in cooperation with US military forces.

The device was detonated in a controlled manner by explosives experts, Sánchez reported.

“The investigation is ongoing to determine how and why that explosive device ended up on Colombian territory,” he added on X.

In 2008, Ecuador and Colombia experienced a similar diplomatic crisis following a bombing ordered by then-Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Ecuadorian soil, where one of the commanders of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group was killed.

Amid statements about the bomb, Petro mentioned the existence of “27 charred bodies,” raising questions about whether the two incidents were related.

Minister Sánchez clarified that the president was referring to another incident in January, when three explosions at cocaine laboratories killed at least 14 people in a border area.

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US convicts 9 in “Antifa trial.” It’s a grave violation of the 1st amendment

The first US federal case involving protesters designated as “terrorists” by the administration wrapped up this week. It was a mixed verdict, but overall a victory for the government against a group of left-wing protesters that prosecutors claimed were “an antifa terror cell.”

Nine protesters at a “noise protest” outside of an ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas faced 65 charges ranging from providing material support for terrorists to attempted murder. An Alvarado police officer was shot in the neck while responding to the protest. The officer survived.

Benjamin Song, who shot the responding officer, was convicted for attempted murder and the illegal discharge of a firearm. But that isn’t what raises eyebrows about the case.

Prosecutors alleged a conspiracy between the nine defendants, one of whom was not even at the nighttime protests. The administration classification of “antifa” as a “domestic terror organization” is an informal designation that carries no legal weight.

The right of dissent is clearly protected by the 1st amendment in the US. Nonetheless, the government framed defendants as a “dangerous terrorist cell” who “planned an ambush” of DHS personnel and police.

Defendants say the demonstration was meant to be peaceful, and that 8 of the protesters were completely uninvolved in the shooting.

Eight defendants were convicted of rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and use and carry of an explosive — the explosive being fireworks deployed during the protest.

The defendant who was not at the protest, Daniel Sanchez Estrada was convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record. Estrada was moving “zines”, pamphlets about social organizing and leftist ideas — documents whose publication and possession are clearly protected by the 1st amendment as well, at least in theory.

He and his wife, Rueda, were also convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents, and providing material aid to a terrorist organization.

The government has called it the first domestic terrorism case targeting antifa since President Trump declared the ideology a domestic terrorist threat last year. Experts say the outcome could determine the playbook for how the Trump administration targets left-wing movements.

“Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that has been allowed to flourish in Democrat-led cities — not under President Trump,” read a statement from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.”

Antifa is neither an organization nor “terrorists”. It is simply an orientation: being willing to resist fascism. That is clearly considered threatening to the United States.

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ICE has been racially profiling: a trend that has led to the detainment of US citizens, finds Oregon judge

ICE agents testifying in court in Oregon as part of a class-action lawsuit against the agency for detaining people without warrants admitted to the court that the agency imposes arrest quotas on its agents.

The lawsuit was filed by immigration non-profit Innovation Law Lab. The group claims that warrantless arrests form part of a pattern of racial profiling and unconstitutional arrests. The judge sided with plaintiffs, ordering ICE to end the practice.

Testimony in a December hearing in the case provided a remarkable acknowledgment by an ICE officer of how daily target arrest numbers played out at the local level, and appeared to contradict the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials’ repeated claims that officers didn’t have quotas. Trump adviser Stephen Miller has publicly said the administration’s target was 3,000 daily arrests. The hearing also appeared to be the first time that ICE disclosed in court its use of an app called Elite for operations.

According to court testimony of ICE officials obtained by the Guardian, the Elite app is “kind of like Google Maps” and shows how many individuals with an “immigration nexus” are believed to be in a certain area. Another officer testified that a “nexus” could mean any history of contact with immigration officials, which could include a naturalized US citizen.

Elite, JB said, helped officers identify areas with a more “dense population”, meaning a higher likelihood of finding people to detain. Another agent described the Woodburn complex as a “target-rich” area. JB said he did not know how Elite “leads” were generated, saying the app “pulls from all kinds of sources”.

Officials also added that the app is often inaccurate and that mistaken arrests were made often, especially for Spanish speakers.

According to a report by 404 Media, a tech news site, the app was built by Palantir, the data analytics firm that has contracts with the DHS and the Department of Defense. The app is one of many that have reportedly been used by DHS which collects information not merely on potential targets but also on activists and protesters.

Accusations of racial profiling by DHS has become commonplace. A district judge in Minnesota recently ruled that the practice was widespread there as well.

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The Round-Up

• Eleven people have died in DHS custody since January, meaning 2026 is on track to beat 2025 as the deadliest year for detainees in the agency’s custody in its existence. Two died last week: Emmanuel Damasm a 56-year-old asylum seeker from Haiti, and Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a veteran of the Afghan war. Damasm died in U.S. ICE custody after staff allegedly denied him treatment for a tooth infection.Paktiawal’s death is currently under investigation.

• Before DHS officers killed two US citizens in Minnesota, they killed Ruben Ray Martinez, a San Antonio man that DHS claimed attacked officers with his car. New video of the incident shows that DHs, as in many previous cases, are lying liars. The newly released video shows that DHS are blatantly false, surprising exactly no one.

• The administration of Donald Trump has toned down migration rhetoric in recent weeks, as we have reported before. Last week, they sent a memo to lawmakers in Washington suggesting that Republicans stop speaking of mass deportations and instead focus their rhetoric on ICE detentions of convicted criminals.

• Department of Homeland Security leaders removed top privacy officers who objected to mislabeling government records to block their public release, according to a new report by WIRED.

• New details emerged in how DHS is investing in mass-surveillance software and equipment thanks to documents the government claimed were “hacked.”

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Hasta pronto, piratas!

Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” summit advocates for military actions in Latin America

One day after US forces assisted with a land strike on a compound in Ecuador allegedly used as a training facility for non-state armed group Comandos de la Frontera, US President Donald Trump launched his “Shield of the Americas” summit with right-wing leaders in the region. At the event, Trump stressed further military actions against organized crime groups, which he compared to terrorists. He also announced the creation of the “Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition,” a group of 12 signatory nations from Latin America and the Caribbean which signed a pledge to take aggressive measures against narcotrafficking.

“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our military. So we have to use our military. You have to use your military,” Trump told the audience of Latin American leaders.

Trump promised further use of the US military in the region. “We’ll use missiles. If you want us to use a missile, they’re extremely accurate — pew! — right into the living room, and that’s the end of that cartel person,” Trump said.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has strongly advocated for the use of US military power in Ecuador since he assumed office in 2023.

The summit seems designed to normalize US military attacks in Latin America, such as those being carried out on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans, which have now claimed at least 158 lives.

Combined with the ground strikes in Ecuador, the US is clearly ushering in a new age of violent military attacks in the region.

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US wants Venezuelan gold and rare earth minerals

Both US officials and Venezuelan lawmakers have given a green light to gold extraction in the country by US private companies.

The US also removed sanctions on the Venezuelan state-owned mining company Minervan, which, in theory, will allow Venezuela to sell gold in US markets.

The decision follows high-level visits by US officials to Venezuela. Trump and other US officials have also spoken of mining rare earth minerals in Venezuela.

The US has been desperate to find viable new sources of rare earth minerals that are vital for industries ranging from defence to aerospace and artificial intelligence, including building precision-guided missiles, radars, sensors, and satellite systems.

China currently controls more than 90% of viable rare earth mineral deposits in the world, a situation that the US views as a security threat.

Mining the minerals in Venezuela, however, would be fraught with grave security risks. Many of the regions where mineral deposits lie are controlled by armed groups, including the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Colombian left-wing rebel group that would resist any incursion into their territory vigorously.

The US is unlikely to put “boots on the ground” in southern Venezuela, and Venezuelan security forces are clearly not up to the task of a head-to-head fight with ELN. Will the US greenlight private military contractors in the fight?

What would that look like? This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to the crew at PWS, and for more reasons than we can count. This story bears close watching in the coming weeks and months.

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Congressional elections in Colombia reflect growing polarization in the country

Moderate and centrist parties lost significantly in Congressional elections as left-wing far-right parties made big gains in Colombia’s elections on Sunday.

The change in the legislature occurs just before presidential elections in May, and will likely complicate incoming administration efforts, no matter who wins. An increased number of seats from radical parties makes compromise on any agenda much less likely and reflects growing polarization in the country, as the administration of Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia’s history.

Our friends at Colombia Reports have all the details, including how this affects ongoing presidential primaries.

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The other big headlines in LATAM

• In addition to mining agreements, the US and Venezuela formally agreed to renew diplomatic ties this week. Venezuela’s diplomatic embassy in Washington was closed in 2019.

• Ecuadorian troops seized a 35m-long ‘narco-sub’ hidden in a nature reserve near the Colombian border. They also found a camp nearby, which they said was being used by criminals as a logistics hub to prepare vessels for smuggling drugs.

• At least 33 people have been injured in a nightclub bombing in the coastal town of Trujillo in northern Peru, with minors among those hurt in the explosion. Authorities say that the attack took place in the early morning hours on Saturday, with an explosion ripping through the club. The bombing is still being investigated.

• Mexico will deploy 100,000 security personnel for the World Cup. Mexico, which hosts alongside the United States and Canada, will stage World Cup fixtures across three cities — including Guadalajara, the capital city of Jalisco, where the violence began last month, and more than 12,000 people are reported missing.

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The United States, in cooperation with the Ecuadorian military, on Friday bombed what the US Department of War claims was a training camp for a criminal armed group in northeastern Ecuador.

Officials from both countries claimed that the attack, which was carried out with aircraft and drones with naval support, targeted a camp run by Comandos de la Frontera, an armed group based in southern Colombia made up of both former FARC fighters and paramilitary forces who fought on the side of the government during the country’s 53-year civil war.

The alleged camp was situated very near the Colombian border in a region which has seen a dramatic rise in violence in recent years, principally due to narcotrafficking that originates in Colombia — the largest cocaine producer in the world.

Neither the US nor Ecuadorian military forces reported any casualties in the bombing, video of which was released by both countries as part of what security forces have dubbed “Operation Total Extermination.”

It is the second such joint operation in a week. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) has been bombing vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans since last year, attacks which have killed at least 150 people.

But land bombings within Ecuador represent a sharp escalation in US aggressiveness in Latin America. These bombings occur as the administration of US President Donald Trump launches “Operation American Shield,” a security initiative which the White House describes as combating “cartels, narco-terrorism and Chinese influence” in the Americas.

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“At Ecuador’s request, the Department of Defense took specific action to advance our shared goal of dismantling narco-terrorist networks,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a statement on social media.

Ecuador called the US “a key ally in the struggle” to launch domestic strikes on criminal organizations within the country, in a statement immediately following the attack.

Both the United States and Ecuador have talked of cooperation in the short term within Ecuador, but neither government has released details about what that will mean in practice.

As part of those efforts, Trump invited right-wing presidents in the region to a conference in Miami this weekend. Neither Colombia nor Mexico were invited, the two countries with the largest presence of armed non-state actors in Latin America, as well as considerable illegal drug production.

The new initiative will be led by former secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who was fired this week from the position after her disastrous interview before the US Congress.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has made military crackdowns on organized crime a cornerstone of his administration, so far without positive results, as the security situation continues to worsen within the country.

Noboa has pushed for US military bases in Ecuador, currently prohibited by Ecuadorian law. Last year, he initiated a popular referendum meant to reverse that policy. It was overwhelmingly defeated by voters.

Noboa’s government also recently imposed tariffs on Colombia, its largest neighbor, accusing it of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking, complicating security cooperation between the two countries.

Colombia holds elections in just a few months, and the increasing power of armed groups within the country has become a contentious issue domestically as well as a source of contention with the Trump administration, particularly US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Last year Trump threatened to bomb targets within Colombia, but relations between the two countries improved after a visit by Petro to the White House earlier this year.

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DHS is killing people at historic rates, and lying about it

According to the official data, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) killed more people in the last year than in any year since the agency was created, either during operations or while detainees were held in their custody.

The true numbers, however, are much higher. DHS is even deadlier than they let on.

Internal reports state that 56 people have died in ICE detention since US President Donald Trump took office. A total of 55 people died in ICE custody during Trump’s entire first term, making 2025 four times deadlier than any previous year.

Those totals, however, exclude detainees who died while being apprehended or in the care of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Official numbers from both agencies over the last year have also omitted incidents in which a suspect was killed, and included false DHS reports about migrants who died under suspicious circumstances.

For example, Lunas Campo died of asphyxiation while in ICE custody in January. ICE initially ruled the death a result of “medical distress” in a Jan. 9 press release. The death was later ruled a homicide by medical examiners.

And the rate of deaths is increasing. In January and February, six people died in as many weeks at the same Texas detention center. Lawyers representing detainees call it an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in the region.

Deaths have also occurred indirectly from DHS actions, such as the death of a blind Rohingya refugee last week in Buffalo, NY.

DHS initially detained Nurul Amin Shah Alam after responding to a call from neighbors who spotted him wandering their neighborhood. After realizing they had no basis to deport him, DHS released him five miles from his home.

Shah Alam, who was legally blind and did not speak English, needed a walking stick and died trying to make his way back to his house in the frigid Buffalo winter.

He wandered the streets of Buffalo for six days before dying Tuesday night on a sidewalk downtown.

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Mutual aid continues helping those affected by DHS surge

Though the Trump administration claims that the surge in Minneapolis has come to an end, DHS operations are still ongoing in the city. The financial fallout of those operations as thousands avoid work or shopping for fear of detention has been devastating.

But there is a silver lining to the cloud: mutual aid networks in the city that were built in previous years, and expanded considerably since Trump assumed office, are helping to support thousands of people.

The city government now estimates 76,000 residents — or about 20% of the city’s population — have urgent needs in terms of lost wages, food insecurity and an inability to make rent, among other things.

Most of the mutual aid networks are informal, and there are too many to list or count. Some of the larger official orgs have raised tens of millions of dollars.

Minneapolis has provided a blueprint not merely for direct resistance of authoritarian tactics employed by DHS, they have also shown the nation how to support those most terrified of those operations.

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Resistance Photo of the Week

The Round-Up

• Despite an ongoing “shutdown” over disputes over DHS funding, all personnel are now being paid in full. The shutdown was already doing next to nothing in regards to DHS operations, but some inessential employees were experiencing delayed payments. With new workarounds, Congressional oversight over DHS is effectively nonexistent.

• One of the reasons the shutdown doesn’t matter, is that DHS is so well funded it doesn’t even know what to do with all the money it has. Eight months after Congress approved roughly $191 billion in spending, DHS has an estimated $150 billion left to spend, according to a new analysis provided first to MS NOW by FWD.us, a group that studies immigration policy and advocates for reforms.

• State prosecutors in Minnesota are investigating DHS officers over more than a dozen alleged criminal acts. State prosecutors say the investigations include alleged criminal actions by former “Commander at Large” Greg Bovino.

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Plane full of money crashes in Bolivian capital, police attack poor people trying to gather it

On Friday a Bolivian Air Force transport plane carrying newly printed currency crashed onto a busy highway near La Paz, the country’s capital.

At least 20 people were killed when the airplane attempted an emergency landing which included crashing into a second nearby busy road.

A number of other vehicles were also damaged in the crash. Shortly afterwards, however, residents in the busy city began to approach the scene to recover the banknotes which had spilled forth from wreckage.

Authorities attacked civilians with tear gas and water cannons in an attempt to push them back from wreckage.

Vice Interior Minister Hernan Paredes claimed that the crows arrived “with a tremendously aggressive attitude wielding sticks and stones” to gather the money.

Authorities then began burning the plane’s 18 tons of banknotes, which they said were being transported to replace older notes. They falsely claimed the bills had no legal value and their possession constituted a crime.

“Look at all the money they burned, there are poor families that need that money,” local resident Marcelino Poma told Reuters. “We need to rise up in El Alto. They took our gasoline subsidy, they hurt our household budgets, now they’re taking all the money out of the country.”

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Argentine Senate approves Milei’s rollback of labor rights

Senators in Argentina approved a bill that would allow for standard 12-hour workdays, restrictions on strikes and union organizing, relax hiring and firing rules, and scale back vacation time for workers.

Milei’s bill, which he has dubbed the “labor modernization law”, has inspired weeks of protests, which have often clashed with police.

The President’s supporters claim the reform will spur foreign investment and stimulate economic growth in the country. Milei’s free market reforms have halted runaway inflation in the country, but have also deepened poverty.

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Cuba shoots down a speed-boat launched from Florida

At least one US citizen was killed when Cuban officials returned gunfire towards a speedboat launched from Florida, according to US and Cuban officials.

Border guards killed four people and wounded 6 others, who they said were engaged in “a terroristic attack.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said Washington was investigating the “highly unusual” incident. Cuban authorities claimed that most of the passengers on the US-registered boat had “prior records involving criminal and violent activity”.

Rubio has denied that the people onboard were part of any US operation.

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Other headlines:

• Brazil is, again, experiencing devastating flooding. At least 25 people were killed last week in yearly occurrences, which have become more common as climate change affects weather plans in the Amazonian basin.

• Mexico is searching for 23 people who were broken out of prison as part of widespread attacks across the country after officials killed “El Mencho.”

• Trump stated he wants a “friendly takeover” in Cuba. In comments to the press, Trump suggested a transition that would be “very positive for the people who were expelled or worse”.“The Cuban government is talking with us, and they’re in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money. They have no anything right now, but they’re talking with us,” Trump told reporters.

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Minneapolis has provided a blueprint for resisting ICE

Although DHS officials last week publicly announced an end to the “surge” in Minneapolis, migration enforcement operations and the activities of those resisting them are both very much ongoing.

And the actions of thousands of residents, based on years of non-ideological community organizing and mutual aid to build organic networks of neighbors helping neighbors.

The Trump administration has clearly suffered a massive public relations setback following the murders of Alex Pretti and Renne Goode by DHS officials. In response to growing public pushback, as well as awful polling, Trump has moved away somewhat from the high-visibility/maximum cruelty approach to migration enforcement.

This change is not reflected only in the removal of “Commander at Large” Greg Bovino, who has been stripped of access to his social media accounts from daily DHS operations, but also in the social media accounts of DHS agencies like ICE and CBP.

The style of “shit-posting” with racist memes and thinly veiled fascist imagery has been largely replaced by more “professional” posts, which, though often no less dishonest, focus instead on the allegedly violent migrants that DHS is detaining and statements by White House officials.

But the intention, and scope, of Trump’s (and Stephen Miller’s) plans have not changed. And even in Minneapolis, those protesting and engaging in ICE observation have reported that the scale of DHS operations has not changed.

New vehicles and personnel continue to arrive at the Whipple Building, which is acting as a command center for DHS in the city. And though future “surges” in other cities, such as Boston and Philadelphia, have been put on hold for the moment, it is almost certain that they will resume after public attention moves on from Minnesota.

But the blueprint created by residents in the city works. It has not only dealt a massive public-relations blow to the Trump administration, but it has also materially impacted DHS operations on the ground.

“We aren’t always successful,” one Minneapolis resident who asked not to be named told PWS, “but we’ve delayed, obstructed, and even prevented thousands of ICE operations. This has cost them enormous resources. And I like to think it has saved hundreds of our neighbors.”

And ultimately, the idea of good neighbors has been the kernel of this strategy. It can be replicated in other cities and other communities. (quote) wrote a piece on this idea last week, which explains the sentiment nicely. It is worth reading in its entirety.

Very Partial DHS shutdown

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ran out of funding over the weekend (technically and temporarily), leading to the third partial government shutdown of President Donald Trump’s second term, as negotiations between Republicans and Democrats remain stalled while Congress is in recess until February 23.

The situation is largely theoretical. Ninety-five percent of DHS employees will continue their duties unaffected. Those who are furloughed are principally from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which conducts airport security. Democrats have stated that they will allow funding with some symbolic reforms. In the meantime.

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ICE plans to spend $38.2 billion on detention centers around the country

Further illustrating the point that the current DHS “shutdown” is largely immaterial, ICE is moving ahead with plans to buy 16 warehouses across the country and renovate them to serve as regional processing centers that can hold 1,000 to 1,500 detainees for average stays of three to seven days, according to the plan.

The agency will also open eight large detention centers capable of holding 7,000 to 10,000 detainees for an average of around 60 days that will serve as the “primary location” for immigrants being deported abroad.

In addition, ICE will acquire an additional 10 “turnkey” facilities where the agency already operates, according to the plan.

The construction of detention centers that can hold thousands more people continues, even as DHS holds record numbers of people in custody currently.

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Photo of the Week

A photo of George Floyd square in Minneapolis, on Chicago Avenue and 38th Street. The protests following the murder of Floyd caused a national uprising, and many of the same networks created as part of that movement have served as building blocks for ongoing resistance to DHS efforts today.

The round-up

• The acting head of ICE says that two of its officers appear to have made “untruthful statements” about shooting a migrant in Minnesota and may face federal charges for their actions.

• Despite Increased Profits, Private Prison Companies Want to Cage Even More People. Investors on CoreCivic and GEO Group’s quarterly earnings calls expressed frustration that ICE’s record immigration detention numbers aren’t high enough. This story is crazy.

• Kansas City media reported that “A woman tried to set a fire at a South Kansas City warehouse that had been rumored as a possible ICE detention center. Earlier today, the company that owns the property confirmed it is no longer moving forward with a sale to the U.S. government.” Video of the incident went viral on social media networks.

• Last week, we reported that activists have been claiming that ICE is creating a database to track their identities and movements. This week, officials confirmed those accusations in comments to Reuters.

• Conservative Colombian Senator Ángela Vergara is denouncing ICE and DHS actions after her son was detained by US authorities. Vergara previously supported Trump’s migration policies.

• Obama made some milquetoast comments defending ICE, but saying that Trump has gone so far.

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Shady Dealings in Venezuela

The United States is easing sanctions on oil sales in Venezuela. Combined with a new reform bill passed last week by the Venezuelan legislature that opens up opportunities for partnerships for state owned oil company PDVSA and foreign companies, it seems both governments are keen to move towards increased sales — and courting investment to repair badly decayed infrastructure.

The US has controlled oil sales in the country since the US abduction of former President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Both Delcy Rodriguez, current interim leader of the country, and US President Donald, however, have described US-Venezuelan relations in flattering terms.

Highlighting the new relationship, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright released a series of videos of a US delegation touring energy production facilities this week with Rodriguez in which the two chatted amicably in English.

The visit was full of smiles, handshakes, and photos of the two in front of oil production infrastructure.

Wright is the first high-ranking US official to visit Venezuela since the Clinton administration.

Wright spoke of $500 million in investment within the next 18 months as a first step towards boosting Venezuelan production.

“This is the way forward. This is the path of cooperation, and it is the agenda for a long-term productive partnership,” Rodríguez said to journalists invited to the photo-op.

State media within Venezuela, which for decades has been sharply critical of the US, has largely fallen behind Rodríguez’s approach to US business relations.

Many experts last month predicted fractures within the Chavista power structures. Those have so far not materialized publicly.

The atmosphere in Caracas has relaxed in recent weeks, with large demonstrations by both opposition and Maduro loyalists. The Rodriguez government has also released over a hundred political prisoners, though one high-profile opposition leader has since been placed under house arrest.

The US has faced reluctance from oil companies to invest in the country, however, as well as criticism from many experts and lawmakers about a lack of transparency in how the US is handling the money generated from Venezuelan oil sales.

PWS is working on a piece about exactly that set to be published this week, but the short version is that the financing is subject to Trump’s whims and prone to corruption. It also places the US firmly in control of how much money Venezuela receives, fitting with US visions of the country as a new vassal.

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Peru may topple another President

Peru’s Congress debates this week whether to remove right-wing President Jose Jeri from office amidst allegations of corruption. The session will take place Tuesday.

In October, Jeri — the leader of Congress at the time — took over as president following the unanimous impeachment of his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, on the grounds of “permanent moral incapacity”.

He was sworn in with little ceremony in a late night Congressional setting and is set to leave office in only a few months, following April elections.

Boluarte became President after an attempted coup by her predecessor and former running mate Pedro Castillo after he attempted a failed “auto-golpe”.

Peru has had 8 presidents in 10 years.

The corruption accusations arise from a series of late-night and apparently secret meetings with business magnates in Lima.

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US Boat killings continue unabated

The U.S. announced another boat-bombing against a boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean on Feb 12, bringing the total number of strikes to 35, resulting in 131 deaths.

The extra-judicial killings were initially framed as a way to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro into leaving power, a point which now seems moot.

The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has a long-form piece about how Trump is using the strikes as a way to commit evidence-free assassinations. It’s a stunning abuse of power and a dangerous precedent for US power projection.

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Venezuela releases, and then forcibly re-detains opposition voice in Caracas

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, late on Monday night, said one of her closest allies, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was kidnapped just hours after being released from prison.

Juan Pablo Guanipa was released as part of ongoing political prisoner liberations by the administration of Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez. He was detained by security forces for almost 8 months before his release yesterday.

The claims by Machado were later confirmed by Guanipa’s family, who said he was abducted by “10 heavily armed men in civilian clothes.” They asked the kidnappers to release proof of life immediately, and called for Guanipa’s return.

Venezuela’s public prosecutor’s office said this morning that Mr. Guanipa was rearrested shortly after his release for “violating the terms of his release” and was placed “under house arrest.”

The incident seems like a deliberate message from the state that although the political climate has loosened in recent weeks, extrajudicial violence will still be applied towards dissent.

We will be watching developments closely throughout the week.

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Humanitarian crisis in Cuba

Conditions are worsening in Cuba as the US continues to impose an oil blockade on the country. The US-caused fuel shortage is halting public transportation, causing rolling blackouts, and will soon threaten the country’s ability to perform basic functions like harvesting or transporting food, and keeping the lights on at hospitals.

The Cuban government has responded with emergency rationing, cutting the hours of the workweek, limiting public bus routes, closing tourism sites, and recommending people attend school virtually, or work from home if they are able.

The country of 11 million released a warning to commercial airlines that the airport in Havana would no longer be able to provide refueling services.

Nicaragua, which had previously not required visas from Cuban citizens, announced a change in that policy over the weekend. After being asked by the US to prevent a possible emigration from the island country, the government of Daniel Ortega has closed its doors on Cuban refugees who would flee the economic and social fallout of the blockade.

We can expect more troublesome updates about Cuba in coming weeks, if not days.

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Haiti’s “transitional government” disbands Saturday. No one knows what’s next

Haiti’s unelected Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) ends its mandate on Saturday , after 22 months governing a country without a president.

With no elections organised during its tenure and more than 10,000 people killed since it was established in 2024, the transition it was supposed to secure looks far off.

A new electoral calendar was finally adopted in December 2025, setting general elections for 30 August 2026, with a second round scheduled for 6 December.

But between now and then, no one knows what form the next phase will take, how long it will last, or who will lead it.

As the TPC’s mandate expires, power struggles are intensifying. At the end of January, five of its seven members called for the dismissal of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé — a move blocked by the transitional president, Laurent Saint-Cyr, and opposed by the United States.

Haiti has not held elections in over a decade.

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DHS operations have not “de-escalated”, as Border Czar Tom Homan promised when he took over Border Patrol and ICE operations in Minneapolis just over a week ago.

The tone coming out of the White House may have changed, but day-to-day operations in the city have not.

Crackdowns continue, as do the public “immigration sweeps” favored by Homan’s predecessor Greg Bovino. Residents of Minneapolis, however, continue to resist the operations targeting their neighbors, as well as the agents who have terrorized migrant and non-migrant citizens alike.

DHS personnel have shot 13 people since September of last year. In every case, the department has lied about its victims. Marimar Martinez was branded a “terrorist” after DHS agents shot her 5 times in October. The agency claimed that Ms Martinez tried to target officers with her vehicle. Video of the incident, as well as the testimony of witnesses, dispelled those claims, and she was acquitted of all charges.

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Silverio Villegas González was killed by ICE officers during a traffic stop in September. Officers shot the Mexican immigrant to death when he tried to flee a traffic stop. Officers at the time claimed, again, that Mr González targeted them with his vehicle. Their claims, again, were disproven by both video and witness testimony.

The same excuse was used in the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The list goes on. But in every case, claims made by DHS in public statements have turned out to be lies.

These are the conditions under which thousands of volunteers in Minnesota take to the streets every day to monitor, protest, research, coordinate responses, or provide support for those targeted by ICE and Border Patrol officers.

Just as DHS operations in the city have not slowed, neither have the efforts of those resisting the masked and violent officers in their neighborhoods. The efforts of volunteers are leaving DHS personnel visibly frustrated.

Some have even taken to wearing disguises, such as dressing as construction or electrical workers, to get around the city and surveil potential detainees.

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Creative Resistance

Indigenous organizations in Minnesota staged a protest this week against DHS actions in the state. “Block Parties,” impromptu roadblocks for ICE agents, as we covered last week, continue to multiply, despite warnings against them from local police.

Hundreds of protesters threw dildos at ICE personnel on Friday outside of their staging area. One local resident decided to involve a statue of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.

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The Round-Up

• ICE claimed that a migrant in detention fractured his own skull, beating it against a wall. But the detainee, Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, says agents beat him with an iron rod. Mr Mondragón was taken to an emergency room after the beating. He was suffering was multiple brain hemorrhages when he was revised by hospital staff, who reported the case due to his injuries not matching details provided by DHS agents.

• Former “Commander at Large” Greg Bovino was thrown out of a Las Vegas bar this week by the establishment’s owners, who feared he “presented a security risk” to their patrons. Bovino was fired from his position as head of DHS field operations, and is being sent back to El Centro, California, to resume his duties on the border. But residents there aren’t thrilled to have him, according to this piece by local media. Residents are calling him a “liar” and a “clearly dishonorable man.”

• Approval for ICE as an agency has reached an all-time historic low, according to a poll this week by ABC news. Sixty-three percent of those polled said they disapprove of hos ICE is enforcing US immigration law.

• When ICE agents shot two Venezuelans in Portland, they claimed the couple were Tren de Aragua agents. But DHS denied its own public statements in court, according to court documents. Records obtained by the Guardian reveal a Department of Justice prosecutor later directly contradicted DHS’s Tren de Aragua statements in court, telling a judge: “We’re not suggesting … [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” An FBI affidavit issued following the incident also suggests that in the previous shooting cited by DHS, Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect, but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Neither Niño-Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions.

• Garrett Graff, a journalist who has covered Border Patrol for more than a decade gave testimony before an Illinois commission on DHS actions this week. What he had to say was troubling. Graff described an agency rife with corruption, a history of violence, and outright criminality. His testimony, published at Mother Jones, is worth reading in full.

• Democrats, who just approved a massive budget hike for DHS, and ICE, are having second thoughts about giving the agency even more money. They say they will, however, if some very weak assurances are made. The problem with some of their suggestions, such as mandatory bodycams, is that they may actually make things worse, according to an article this week at Politico.

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Minneapolis doubles down on Resistance

After the murders of two Minnesota residents, and the shootings of two more people in Minneapolis by personnel, the White House responded to rising national outrage by dispatching border czar Tom Homan to the state.

Shortly after his arrival, US President Donald Trump and Minnesota governor Tim Walz, called for “de-escalation” of civil resistance to DHS efforts in the city. But neither DHS, nor Minneapolis residents seem to have received the memo.

“There are ‘ICE parties’ now regularly on my block,” one Minneapolis resident told PWS, explaining that the name is ironic. Residents have set up demonstrations in intersections, or roundabouts that hand out flyers, and often food or hot beverages to residents, but restrict access to DHS officers.

“It’s something that is happening across the entire city,” said the resident, who asked that their name be withheld for security reasons. “And they’re happening organically,” he said, “just neighbors watching out for each other. It’s really beautiful.”

At many roadblocks, residents search publicly sourced databases of license plate numbers known to be used by DHS officials in real time on passing cars.

Meanwhile, according to the Washington Post, more than 34,000 residents have signed up to be ICE/DHS observers: activists who follow DHS deployments across the city and film them.

Chat groups used by informal neighborhood monitoring that serve as early warning systems for ICE/DHS operations have also exploded, forcing the formation of hundreds of new, hyper-local, chatrooms using apps like Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp.

And from an institutional perspective, although the removal of ‘Commander at Large’ Gregory Bovino, and some of his Border Patrol personnel, migration enforcement operations are very much still underway.

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Spain bucks a trend and formalizes half a million undocumented migrants

As many of the governments in the world retreat behind militarized borders, and propaganda that demonizes immigrants, the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE), has approved plans to formalize more than half a million undocumented migrants.

PSOE, working with Spanish leftist party Podemos (We can), wants provide ID cards, healthcare, the right to work, and other state benefits, to all foreign citizens within the country informally.

The leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, said she believed the regularization could benefit between 500,000 and 800,000 people. Funcas, an independent think-tank dedicated to economic and social research in Spain, estimates the figure might be closer to 600,000.

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ProPublica names DHS officers who killed Alex Pretti

In a review of public records, the media company identified the two shooters as Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Raymundo Gutierrez, 35. Both officers are veterans of Border Patrol, and form part of the organization’s “Special Response Unit: — an elite unit that behaves much like a SWAT team.

It would seem that a lack of training is not the issue. They did precisely what they were trained to do.

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The ICE Chilling Photo of the Week

The round-up

• DHS is using facial recognition software to identify migrants and protesters alike. Some officers in the field have been filmed taking photos of observers for what they describe in comments as a “terrorism database.”

• ICE will be playing a vague roll in Italy during the Olympics. This is…weird. And Italians aren’t happy about it, calling them “blackshirts” in public comments — a reference to Mussolini’s fascist enforcers.

• US Border patrol shot a migrants in near Nogales last week, and two more died during a high speed with CBP officers. This is where Greg Bovino has been reassigned, presumably because he can kill people there with relative impunity.

• ICE says that a man “shattered his own skull by running into a wall" in Minnesota. Hospital staff say that claim is extremely unlikely to have happened.

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US President Donald Trump declared a “national state of emergency” over “extraordinary and unusual threats” posed by Cuba in an executive order on Thursday night. The order declares US intentions to place tariffs on any country or entity engaging in trade with the Caribbean island nation of 10 million people.

The US has imposed an effective oil blockade on the country since Washington attacked Venezuela on January 3. Energy shortages caused by fuel shortages are causing rolling blackouts across the country as Cuba rations usage in the country.

A Brewing humanitarian crisis

The Financial Times reports Cuba has just 15–20 days of oil left. Many experts point out that without fuel, even basic economic activities, such as agriculture and medical services, are threatened.

“The Cuban regime continues to spread its communist ideas, policies, and practices around the Western Hemisphere, threatening the foreign policy of the United States,” said Trump in a long statement posted to the White House website on Thursday.

Financial Times reports Cuba has just 15–20 days of oil left, after US pressure helped halt Venezuelan shipments and Mexico’s Pemex suspended a delivery. The shortage has already fueled near-daily blackouts and fuel rationing.

Cuba immediately called the US measure against its oil supply a “brutal act of aggression.”

“Now they are proposing to impose a total blockade on fuel supplies to our country,” wrote Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez in statements on social media.

The long and at times rambling statement from the White House does not make clear what punitive tariffs would be, or who they would apply to. But the statement does target Russia and China specifically, as well as “Hamas and Hezbollah,” who Trump claims are working within the country.

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Mexico backs down under US threats

In recent years, Venezuela had become the principal supplier of Cuban oil needs. That situation began to change in recent months as the US began to seize tankers carrying Venezuelan crude.

Those shipments have now stopped completely, as the US enforces what is effectively a naval blockade on Venezuela. That pressure seems to have extended to Mexico as well in recent weeks.

Former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) began humanitarian shipments of oil to Cuba in 2023, as part of humanitarian efforts to support the Cuban citizenry.

Last year, current President Claudia Sheinbaum ramped up those shipments, which were organized through Mexican state-owned oil company PEMEX.

Those shipments were immediately discontinued after the US attacks on Caracas on January 3.

Although in public comments, Sheinbaum has promised to organize “humanitarian” oil shipments to Cuba through other channels, the Mexican government has taken no concrete actions towards that end.

The White House statement, at least in part, seems intended to keep it that way.

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Rubio has long wanted to target Cuba

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US Secretary of State has long been clear about his intentions to topple Cuba’s communist government. In the days immediately following US attacks on Caracas, Rubio spoke publicly about the possibility of regime change in Cuba.

Analysts from across the political spectrum speculated at the time that US actions in Venezuela would serve as a stepping stone to aggressive US designs in Cuba.

China, however, seems so far undeterred by US threats. The country delivered food, energy equipment, and fuel to the country on January 21, and signed a bilateral deal to continue providing up to $80 million of humanitarian aid to the Caribbean nation, whose economy is reeling from US actions.

But it’s doubtful the US would go so far as to start a trade war with China. Despite constant public threats, the administration has publicly backed down from that prospect multiple times in the last year.

Any other predictions, however, are clearly off the table. ‘Rules’ regarding US actions in Latin America have shown themselves for exactly what they always were: empty rhetoric.

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Hasta pronto, piratas!

Venezuela releases prisoners, pressured to put pressure on Cuba

Authorities in Venezuela have freed at least 143 people listed as political prisoners, according to Caracas rights group Foro Penal. The number includes the son-in-law of Presidential candidate Edmundo González, Rafael Tudares, who had been held for over a year.

Many of those released were detained as part of crackdowns by security forces on protests that followed Maduro’s refusal to concede the 2024 presidential election.

Newly installed Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez has promised to release hundreds of prisoners in the coming weeks as part of a “new political moment” that will allow “greater political and ideological diversity.”

In public comments Friday, however, Rodriguez insisted she has “had enough” of following orders from Washington. Trump has exercised coercion over the country via oil blockades and threats of further military strikes.

Roriguez called on DC to “let Venezuelan politics resolve Venezuelan problems.” Her tone has been inconsistent in recent days as she balances statements aimed at both international and domestic audiences.

Meanwhile, Cuba is experiencing an energy crisis after the US stopped Venezuelan oil shipments to the Caribbean island. Cuban officials denounce what they call “piracy” and an “attack on the Cuban revolution.”

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Sheinbaum bows to Trump in prisoner release as well

Mexican authorities have sent 37 inmates allegedly linked to drug cartels to the US as part of US State Department extradition requests. The decision follows US President Donald Trump’s threats of land strikes within Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has bowed to US demands on migration and drug issues since Trump assumed the presidency last year, initiating domestic crackdowns on both.

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Colombian-Ecuadorian trade war? We don’t think Naboa has thought this one through

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced 30% “security tariffs” on imports from Colombia, citing a lack of cooperation in combating drug trafficking and illegal mining.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded with surprise, citing long-standing cooperation with the country, and ended energy exports to the country.

Colombia supplies almost 10% of Ecuadorian electricity. Ecuador has experienced rolling blackouts across the country in recent years, and often depended on temporary increases in exports from Colombia to survive them.

We don’t think Naboa has thought this strategy through very well, but what do we know? haha

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Bolsonaro supporters struck by lightning in Brazil

At least 34 people were injured when lightning struck a rally in Brazil demanding the release of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently jailed.

Divine providence or a cruel and random act of nature? Difficult to be certain. But if the weather gods plan to weigh-in on upcoming Brazilian elections, the situation could get dramatic fast.

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Minnesota may well be presenting the most organized community resistance efforts to ICE and Border Patrol efforts yet seen to date. Tens of thousands of volunteers are acting as community watch groups, legal observers, food pantries, and delivery services for migrant communities who do not feel safe leaving the house, emergency response teams, street medics, legal advisors, and a hundred more roles, constantly evolving and growing.

And the activism is very visibly frustrating both DHS officials and the White House.

“It’s growing so much,” one activist, who asked that his name be withheld, told PWS. “We’ve had to organize the community group chats because they were becoming unmanageable,” he said, explaining that some neighborhood communication channels on apps like Signal had grown to over 1000 users. “Now they’re smaller groups, organized by blocks, or immediate neighborhoods,” he said.

“We know exactly where ICE is at all times, down to the block,” he explained. “Neighbors are organizing emergency response teams to observe, film, or harass ICE in real-time on the field.”

“There are school patrols, block patrols, neighborhood patrols, and multi-neighborhood patrols. At this point, I can’t track a fraction of what’s happening, because there are tens of thousands of people doing things,” Andrew Fahlstrom, an activist who helps lead Defend the 612, a Minnesota group organizing some of the volunteers, told media company Mother Jones.

There are people “giving rides, bringing food to people’s homes, going grocery shopping for targeted communities, doing fundraising for rent and other material support.”

Activist groups created searchable, publicly available databases that list the license plates of known ICE vehicles. The organization often uses unmarked cars for its operations. ICE has responded by changing those license plates daily or not using them at all.

“But that doesn’t work,” said the anonymous Minnesota activist. “Because now any cars travelling together without license plates are just assumed to be ICE, and followed by legal observers.”

Dan Troccoli, a public school teacher and union activist, recently told magazine The Nation:

“Many people around the city have been going around patrolling and keeping an eye on these agents. There are estimates as high as 10,000 people that have been involved in the city in these efforts in the last six weeks. Given the legacy of the uprisings after [the 2020 police murder of] George Floyd, people in the city have been activated for years now. I would argue we were Trump’s target for that reason, but it’s not going exactly like they planned, and people need to know that.”

Some local restaurants are providing free soup for protesters and volunteers. All are denying entry to ICE and DHS personnel without a judicial warrant expressly allowing them entry.

DHS complained of the widespread practice in public statements on social media on Wednesday, writing:

“At each gas station where the agents stopped to use the restroom, groups of agitators appeared, yelled at them, stalked them, and even tried to prevent law enforcement vehicles from leaving, creating unsafe conditions. At one stop, individuals in the crowd threw food at the agents. At their final gas station stop, someone spit on an agent.”

Border Patrol director, and mighty midget extraordinaire, Greg Bovino, called community resistance “a major obstacle” for ICE operations.

Even Vice President JD Vance flew to Minneapolis to defend migration enforcement officers, blaming “far-left” agitators for causing “chaos” in the city. Vance explained the motive for his visit as an attempt to study the “weird reaction” of residents.

The community effort is causing enormous loss in resources for DHS, whose main operational hub is constantly obstructed by protesters, some of whom have been pouring water around entry points to the facility, where it quickly becomes ICE in freezing Minneapolis weather.

Responses from Democratic lawmakers in the city, however, have been anemic. Governor Tim Walz has denounced DHS’s presence in public statements, but has done very little to actually address the situation.

Police responding to DHS calls for backup have assaulted protesters, deploying tear gas and other chemical irritants. Walz, who has often called for community responses to be tempered, calling for “peaceful actions.”

Walz also called up the Minnesota National Guard, in his words, to protect residents. But the Guard seems to be under very different orders:

A recent post on X, formerly Twitter, by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, made this clear: “At Gov. Walz’s direction, the Minnesota National Guard has been mobilized and is staging to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies.”

As Los Angeles and Chicago showed last year, it is direct actions by communities that are making a real difference, much more than lawmakers or courts.

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ICE chilling photo of the week

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The round-up

• ICE agents in Minnesota have detained at least four children from the same school district this month, including a 5-year-old boy. School officials accused ICE officers of using the 5-year-old “as bait” to lure his father out of the house.

• The Oglala Sioux Tribe says three tribal members arrested in Minneapolis are currently in ICE detention. The tribal council voted unanimously on Thursday to bar any DHS officials from entering their land.

• Choctaw Nation leaders this week passed local legislation that would bar the possibility of an ICE detention facility being constructed in Durant, Oklahoma.

• In a newly released memo from last year, ICE says its officers can forcibly enter homes during immigration operations without judicial warrants. Administrative warrants are often filled out by ICE agents themselves rather than by judges.

• ICE detainee population crested 73,000, a new record for the agency, according to the latest available data.

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Hasta pronto, piratas!