Mark Weisbrot

#Cuba's infant mortality rate rose 148% from 2019 to 2025 during a period of unprecedented expansion and tightening of the US commercial and financial embargo against the island, a new CEPR report by Alex Main, Joe Sammut, @MarkWeisbrot, and @GuillaumeLong finds.

BREAKING NEWS: 🇨🇴 President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro: "If the United States does not rethink their policy toward Latin America, there will be a rebellion. You cannot continue to believe that the security of one nation rests on the hunger of neighboring nations. You have designed a policy that consists of extracting our wealth, blocking our economies, and dictating how we must live, while we bear the deaths of a drug conflict that you have already lost in your own streets."

Bloomberg is right. Noboa has banned the largest opposition party in the run-up to the next election. He now controls all the courts: judicial independence is no more. And he's buying out the media. So "consolidating power" is a bit of a euphemism. It's an authoritarian project

I am extremely concerned about Ecuadorian President Noboa’s lawfare against political opponents, which includes banning the country’s largest political party until after its November elections. Now, Noboa is persecuting former Presidential candidate Andrés Arauz for “attempting to influence institutions of the state”—a baseless political accusation.   I will continue to monitor Andrés’ case closely, and urge the protection of his and other political opponents’ human rights.

¿En serio @RevistaSemana cree que los colombianos se van a dejar influenciar por este payaso? ¿Alguien que preside sobre la tasa de homicidio más alta del hemisferio? ¿Un presidente que toma por asalto a embajadas extranjeras, viola los derechos humanos, y persigue a sus detractores y encarcela a los líderes de la oposición? ¿Un presidente que habla de luchar contra el narco pero cuya bananera ha sido reiteradamente encontrada exportando cocaína? ¿Es esa la estrategia electoral de Semana?

Me preocupa sumamente la guerra judicial emprendida por el presidente ecuatoriano Noboa contra sus opositores políticos, la cual incluye la proscripción del partido político más grande del país hasta después de las elecciones de noviembre. Ahora, Noboa está persiguiendo al excandidato presidencial Andrés Arauz por «intentar influir en las instituciones del Estado», una acusación política infundada.   Continuaré siguiendo de cerca el caso de Andrés e insto a que se protejan sus derechos humanos, así como los de otros opositores políticos.

Kuwait: Release journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin from detention cpj.movements.mov/pet/kuwait-rel…

Full article: thehill.com/opinion/intern…

As the war in Iran wreaks havoc on developing countries, a new issuance of special drawing rights can reduce the risk of financial crisis contagion + create tens of thousands of US export-related jobs without costing taxpayers a dime, @Ivana_V_L & @michael_galant argue. @thehill

Hoy, con el presidente Xi Jinping he constatado que el vínculo entre España y China sale reforzado tras este viaje oficial. En un mundo cada vez más incierto, España apuesta por una relación UE-China basada en la confianza, el diálogo y la estabilidad. Debemos seguir avanzando hacia un orden multipolar construido desde el respeto y el pragmatismo.

This week, I will be forcing a vote to block nearly $500 million in bombs and bulldozers to Israel.  Enough is enough. U.S. taxpayers must not keep funding the Netanyahu government’s mass killing and displacement of civilians in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon.

This is just too funny 🤦‍♂️ Trump's justification for extending his deadline by 2 weeks is that Pakistan's Prime Minister "requested" it. But when you look at the edit history of the post in question by Pakistan's PM, where he "requests" the extension, it's painfully obvious it was sent to him by the White House since he first stupidly posted it with the mention "Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X" 🤣

While the world focuses on the destruction in Iran, we must not ignore what Israel is doing in Lebanon. 1,461 have been killed. 4,430 have been injured. 1.2 million have been displaced. Israel now occupies 14% of Lebanon. Enough is enough. No more US military aid to Israel.

@PeteHegseth "Back to the stone age"

Reminder: Trump said his decision to launch the Iran war was shaped by conversations with Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Pete Hegseth, and Marco Rubio. Not one active military commander. Not one. Expect more of this, since Pete Hegseth is firing the people who actually know better, the generals. Military command experience: 📌 Steve Witkoff = 0 years (real estate investor) 📌 Jared Kushner = 0 years (son-in-law) 📌 Marco Rubio = 0 years (senator) 📌 Pete Hegseth = 0 years (served in the military, but never commanded large-scale operational units like a general or combatant commander)

Think about what Washington Republicans are actually asking you to believe: that there are noncitizens so committed to voting illegally that they’d risk deportation, prosecution, and everything we’ve seen ICE do, just to cast a ballot in our elections.      There is no documented crisis of noncitizens voting. It is already a federal crime, and it always has been.       Republicans invented a crisis that doesn’t exist so they could sell a “solution” that makes it harder for YOU to vote.      Call it what it is: the SAVE REPUBLICANS Act.

This is an increase of more than 60% from where it was in 2025.

Iranian President Pezeshkian's close ally Zarif reveals Iranian proposal to end the war: - IRAN STEPS FOLLOWING THE END OF THE HOSTILITIES 1- Commit never to seek nuclear weapons 2- Down-blend enriched uranium to below 3.67 percent 3- Ratify the IAEA Additional Protocol for permanent monitoring 4- Ensure safe commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with Oman 5- Sign a permanent nonaggression pact with the United States 6- Participate in a regional security framework 7- Transfer enriched uranium and related equipment to a regional enrichment consortium 8- Remove terrorism-related designations on the United States 9- Restore diplomatic/consular channels 10- Remove travel restrictions on U.S. citizens 11- Invite oil companies, including American ones, to help facilitate exports 12- China, Russia, and possibly regional states may serve as guarantors of the agreement. - THE US STEPS: 1-Remove unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran 2-Allow Iran to export oil freely and repatriate the proceeds 3- Accept that Iran will retain some non-weapons-level nuclear program rather than demand zero enrichment 4- Terminate UN Security Council resolutions against Iran 5- Allow Iran to participate normally in global supply chains 6- Sign a permanent nonaggression pact with Iran 6- Finance reconstruction in Iran 7- Compensate Iranian civilians for losses 8- Participate in a regional security framework 9- Help create the regional enrichment consortium 10- Remove terrorism-related designations on Iran 11-- Restore diplomatic/consular channels with Iran 12- Remove travel restrictions on Iranian citizens 13- Cooperate on trade, energy, and technology projects read the full article here: foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/ho…

Joe Rogan: “I’m confused. I can’t believe we went to this war. When we started bombing Iran I was like this can’t be true… Supposedly, they’re trying to stop the terrorists” Theo Von: “That’s crazy though if you’re the fucking terrorists! If you wanna stop them stand in front of the fucking mirror”

The use of collective punishment against the Cuban people as a means to force political change on the island may constitute a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions, co-director @markweisbrot argues in @latimes. latimes.com/opinion/story/…