CounterVortex

The Caribbean

Identifying victims of the US boat strikes

Nearly 200 people have been killed since the US started bombing boats supposedly believed to be carrying drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific last September—and the figure keeps rising. The strikes have caused an international outcry over the violation of international human rights law, but there has been little information about the victims themselves. A months-long cross-border investigation coordinated by the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) has now managed to piece together the details of over 20 of the young men believed to have been killed, plus three survivors. They were overwhelmingly poor fishermen and small boat transporters without criminal records. They came from economically vulnerable coastal communities, including in Colombia, Venezuela, Saint Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Ecuador. The investigation identified each of the boats targeted and noted that their home governments have failed so far to investigate the attacks. (US Coast Guard via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows

‘Hondurasgate’ leaks reveal Israeli destabilization scheme

“Hondurasgate”—an alleged plot involving Israel, the United States, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to destabilize Latin America’s progressive governments through disinformation—has thrust the region’s ties to Israel back into the spotlight. The scandal emerged ahead of a diplomatic visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Central America as part of a push to consolidate alliances with the region’s newly ascendant right-wing leaders. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Africa

Trump again intervenes in crisis-torn Nigeria

US and Nigerian forces jointly conducted a raid that killed one of the Islamic State’s highest-ranking leaders in the country. Abu Bilal al-Minuki was said to be a commander of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The strike took place in the Lake Chad area in Nigeria’s northeast. Meanwhile, dozens of Nigerian fishermen are feared dead after Chadian forces struck alleged Boko Haram strongholds along Lake Chad, which straddles the border of the two countries. Additionally, at least 100 civilians were killed in a Nigerian government air-strike on a crowded market in bandit-affected northwest Zamfara state, according to Amnesty International. Nigerian authorities have denied the report, but if confirmed, it would be thesecond air-strike to kill scores of people in a northern Nigerian market in a month. (Map: Wikipedia)

Planet Watch

Podcast: is the Jewish homeland in outer space?

The escalating global crisis and the very real crimes of the “Jewish state” make the world a more precarious place for Jews—as recent events demonstrate all too clearly. The contradictions underlying Zionism make its promise of dignity and security for Jews illusory. Earlier efforts also proved to be empty dreams—such as the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Birobidzhan in Soviet-era Siberia. A new book (facetiously or not) seeks a solution to the interminable “Jewish Question” in space colonization. In Episode 328 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses The Luftmenschen of Planet Birobidzhan by Zvi Baranoff.

Southeast Asia

Philippines urged to arrest fugitive senator

Amnesty International called on the Philippines to apprehend Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, expressing deep concern over reports that he fled the Senate building to evade an International Criminal Court arrest warrant. Following rumors that a warrant had been issued for his arrest for crimes against humanity, dela Rosa disappeared from public view, re-emerging this week to participate in a Senate leadership vote. He apparently fled the chamber after spotting Philippine government agents waiting to arrest him, and spent two days barricaded in the Senate building. He escaped the building after gunfire erupted, and his present whereabouts are unknown. (Photo: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons)

North Africa

UN rights chief calls on Tunisia to halt repression

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged Tunisian authorities to halt their persecution of civil society organizations, journalists, human rights activists and members of the judiciary, who have been subjected to criminal proceedings in retaliation for their criticisms of government policies and the president’s consolidation of executive power. The significant and sustained decline of the human rights situation in the country has ensued since the events of July 2021, when President Kais Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the prime minister, and declared the he would rule by decree. (Image: Grunge Love)

Africa

Drones now leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk issued a high alert on the widening use of drones in the conflict in Sudan. Türk warned that unless the international community takes action without delay, the conflict in Sudan could enter a new, even deadlier phase. The Sudan team at the Human Rights Office found that upwards of 80% of all civilian deaths from January to April—numbering at least 880—can be attributed to drone attacks. Türk warned: “This increasing reliance on drones allows hostilities to continue unabated in the approaching rainy season, which in the past has brought about a lull in ground operations. An intensification of hostilities in the coming weeks, as the parties seek to gain or consolidate control of territory amid shifting conflict dynamics, risks hostilities expanding even further to central and eastern states, with lethal consequences for civilians across enormous areas.” (AI-generated image of various drones used in Sudan, via Sudan Tribune)

North America

Alberta separation referendum on hold —for now

Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta have received a petition for independence from Canada. Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, “A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence,” and signature sheets from “pro-sovereignty” group Stay Free Alberta. The group told the CBC news that it has collected over 301,000 signatures, significantly more than the 178,000 threshold. The proposed referendum will ask voters: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?” However, the verification process for the signatures is currently on hold, pending a decision from the provincial courts on the compatibility of the petition with First Nations treaty rights. (Photo: Magalie L’Abbe via Alberta Politics)

Watching the Shadows

Trump admin has transferred 17,400 to ‘third countries’

The Trump administration has built a network of third-country transfer agreements with more than 30 governments and used them to remove over 17,400 people, in some cases in defiance of federal court orders and after individuals had won their release through habeas corpus, according to data released by Human Rights First and Refugees International. The organizations report that the administration in April re-arrested and forcibly transferred to third countries people who had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges and had prevailed on habeas petitions challenging the legality of their detention. The report documents an attempted transfer of individuals to Libya last year in violation of a court order then in effect. (Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Syria: arrest in Assad-era chemical attack

Syria’s Interior Ministry announced the arrest of deposed regime brigadier Khardal Ahmad Dayyub, a former head of Air Force Intelligence in Daraa, for his involvement in systematic human rights violations committed against civilians. Dayyub is accused of running an “assassination committee” in Daraa, as well as involvement in the chemical attacks on Eastern Ghouta during his later service in the Damascus regional branch. He is also said to have had a key role in coordination with Hezbollah and Iranian forces in Syria that were introduced to back up the Bashar Assad dictatorship. (Photo: SANA)

East Asia

Hong Kong trade unions face ‘structural collapse’

A new report by the Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor (HKLRM) details how Hong Kong’s labor protections face “profound and alarming structural collapse” as national security surveillance becomes the “new normal” under Chinese rule. The report outlines the developments in administration and policy of the last year, documenting how the workers’ rights movement is facing significant constrains. The “dual pressure of the National Security Law (NSL) and draconian amendments to the Trade Unions Ordinance (TUO),” which came into effect in January 2026, are leading to a “hollowing out of trade unions,” says the report. (Photo: antha26/Pixabay via JURIST)

Africa

Podcast: West Africa escalates toward genocide

Alarming reports that Nigeria has established “concentration camps” for the Fulani ethnic minority cast an ironic light on Nigeria’s tension with the Sahel states of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso to the north. These three regimes have broken from the Western imperial camp (to embrace the nascent Russian imperial camp)—but are likewise subjecting their Fulani minorities to persecution and massacre. With the recent shock rebel offensive in Mali, the “terrorist” stigma that attaches to the Fulani and Tuareg peoples across the imperial camps makes their position more precarious than ever. Meanwhile, prominent voices on the both the right and the (supposed) “left” are spreading propaganda about the struggle in West Africa that is alarmingly wrong, because it exclusively views the crisis through a campist lens. In Episode 327 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg tries to provide some clarity on these fast-escalating and grossly under-reported conflicts. (Photo: Az-Zallaqa via LWJ)