Instruction: Write an article about: Why is US easing some sanctions on Venezuela? Economic blackmail, oil, Russia. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Iran, Juan Guaidó, oil, PSUV, Russia, Venezuela

Output:
The US government is lifting a few (not even close to all) sanctions on Venezuela, after banning imports of Russian oil. But only on the condition that Caracas make economic reforms and concessions to the right-wing opposition.

The US government has announced that it is lifting a small number of sanctions on Venezuela. A major left-wing newspaper in Turkey, BirGün, interviewed Multipolarista editor Benjamin Norton about the situation. His comments follow below:
The US government is not lifting the vast majority of its unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela, which are illegal under international law, and have led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths.
Instead, the Joe Biden administration offered to ease a few specific sanctions, especially related to the oil sector, largely because the White House has banned Russian energy and wants to make up for the crude it had been importing from Russia, to try to stabilize spiking energy prices.
But Washington is only doing this under the condition that, one, Venezuela make political concessions to the right-wing opposition, and two, that Caracas partially liberalize its economy, implementing reforms that allow US corporations to invest 5% to 10% in state-owned companies, for instance.
This is a form of economic blackmail by the US government. Venezuela has essentially been forced at gunpoint to implement economic reforms, because, as the UN special rapporteur on sanctions reported, the Venezuelan state lost 99% of its revenue due to the illegal US blockade and other Western coercive measures.
The structural problems with the Venezuelan economy long predate the rise of the leftist Chavista movement. Caracas has relied on oil for the vast majority of its revenue for roughly a century. The Venezuelan state was heavily dependent on hydrocarbons for many decades before Hugo Chávez became president in 1999.
The illegal US sanctions are very unpopular in Venezuela, even among some right-wing opposition parties. The US economic warfare has essentially divided the opposition between those who support Washington’s sanctions and coup attempt, and those who are against the sanctions.
As for average Venezuelans, polling has consistently shown that the vast majority of Venezuelan civilians are strongly against the US sanctions on their country.
Even an explicitly partisan polling firm run by a wealthy anti-Chavista right-wing opposition figure, called Datanálisis, was forced to concede in August 2021 that 76.4% of Venezuelans reject the sanctions on the oil sector. The actual figure is likely even higher, as less biased polling firms have shown even more widespread opposition to sanctions.
Given the brutal economic attacks that Washington has unleashed on the Venezuelan people in the past several years, many people are welcoming the news that the blockade may be softened, even if only slightly.
The illegal US blockade on Venezuela did fail to bring about regime change, which was Washington’s number-one goal, but it devastated the Venezuelan economy and successfully forced the leftist Chavista government to implement reforms to partially liberalize it. This was Washington’s number-two goal.
The US imperial strategy is to use hybrid warfare to force Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and other countries where socialist parties are in power to make economic concessions to US capital.
This strategy goes back decades. When socialist Salvador Allende was democratically elected president of Chile in 1970, US President Richard Nixon infamously called to “make the economy scream.”
Washington uses sanctions and hybrid warfare to destroy economies in countries run by socialist parties, then blames socialism for the economic chaos that it intentionally caused.
The difference is that the United States succeeded in overthrowing Allende in a violent coup, where it has repeatedly failed to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in its numerous violent coup attempts.
One of the main reasons the Biden administration decided to soften (but not end) its attacks on Venezuela is because the United States is cutting oil imports from Russia and needs to find a replacement, especially if it wants to lower the skyrocketing energy prices that have fueled the highest rates of inflation in the US in 40 years.
Washington tried to force Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to make up the difference, but Riyadh refused. Other significant oil and gas producers had similar responses. OPEC members are sticking with their production plans, and say they don’t even have the capacity anyway to make up for lost Russian exports.
The Biden administration has also refused to undo aggressive anti-Iran policies imposed by Donald Trump, such as listing the Iranian military branch the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a supposed “terrorist” organization. This means that Washington is effectively killing any hopes of returning to the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Trump unilaterally sabotaged in 2018. Therefore the US can’t rely on Iranian oil to make up for the Russian crude.
Given this situation, the Biden administration apparently made the calculation that, at this moment, its hybrid war on Venezuela is not as important as its proxy war on Russia. So the United States is slightly easing its war on Venezuela while doubling down on its war on Russia.
But the Venezuelan leadership is very clear-eyed and can see that Washington’s strategy is a cynical act of divide-and-conquer. Russia remains one of Venezuela’s most important allies, and Caracas is not for a second going to abandon it.
Venezuela was simply forced to make temporary compromises to try to reactivate its besieged economy, allowing a little room for US companies like Chevon to operate. But Caracas is by no means going to let those foreign firms control its oil sector or other state-owned companies, which will still remain firmly under government control. Allowing investors 5% to 10% stakes is a far cry from full privatization.
The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has maintained a solid and consistent base of support among working-class and poor Venezuelans. PSUV won the November 21, 2021 regional elections, which were monitored by the European Union, in a landslide, with more votes in 20 of 23 states and the capital Caracas.
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s political opposition is completely divided and discredited. Juan Guaidó has lost the backing even of many right-wing opposition figures, who see him as weak and incompetent. Opposition parties are unable to win elections because they are driven by individual personalities who are notoriously unable to unite, and lack popular support because they are widely seen as corrupt and beholden to a foreign power (the United States).
Internationally, the US coup strategy of recognizing Guaidó – who never received a single vote in a presidential election – as supposed “interim president” has totally collapsed. Fewer than 15 countries still recognize Guaidó, as even his own former ally admitted.
Although Washington still maintains the illusion that Guaidó is something more than a political cosplayer, the Biden administration tacitly acknowledged the reality that Nicolás Maduro is the real, elected president when it sent a delegation to Caracas to negotiate with him.


Instruction: Write an article about: US-backed coup regimes trapped Honduras in unpayable odious debt, warns new President Xiomara Castro. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Argentina, debt, Greece, Honduras, IMF, Manuel Zelaya, odious debt, Puerto Rico, Xiomara Castro

Output:
At the time of the 2009 US-backed coup, Honduras had $2.48 billion in external debt. Now it has $9.25 billion. New leftist President Xiomara Castro says this odious debt is unpayable. It already eats up 50% of the government budget.

(Se puede leer este artículo en español aquí.)
The new leftist administration in Honduras managed to win November 2021 elections in a landslide and defeat an authoritarian coup regime, but now it faces a huge problem that will make it difficult to govern: odious debt.
When a US-sponsored military coup overthrew Honduras’ democratically elected left-wing President Manuel Zelaya in 2009, the country had $2.48 billion in external debt.
By the end of 2021, after 12 years of rule by corrupt right-wing coup regimes, Honduras’ external debt had swelled to $9.25 billion – a 373% increase.
The Honduran state’s internal debt to private parties likewise skyrocketed from approximately $810 million in 2009 to roughly $7.3 billion today.
Honduras’ GDP is only $23.8 billion, yet the country is saddled with more than $16.5 billion in debt – meaning its debt is nearly 70% of the size of its entire economy.
The Central American nation’s new leftist President Xiomara Castro, Honduras’ first democratic leader since the coup, has said this burden on the government is a form of odious debt, and is simply unpayable.
Castro declared in a speech at her inauguration on January 27 that the previous coup regimes had “submerged” the state in debt, leaving it in “bankruptcy” in an “economic catastrophe.”
Debt payments now eat up a staggering 50% of the government’s budget, Castro stressed.
This graph from Honduran media outlet La Prensa shows how the debt skyrocketed after the US-backed coup.
A graph of Honduras’ external debt
This graph does not include Honduras’ massive internal debt.
“After 12 years of dictatorship the amount of internal debt increased from 20 billion lempiras (USD $810 million) to 179 billion lempiras (USD $7.3 billion),” Castro said in her inauguration speech.
“With these figures it is clear that the state does not have the capacity to sustain the outrageous and shameful debt that we are inheriting,” the new Honduran president added. “It is practically impossible to meet the debt requirements.”
Castro said the only way to manage the debt is to renegotiate it with the creditors.
“My government will not continue the vortex of plunder that has condemned generations of youth to pay the debt they took on behind their backs,” she declared.
“The country should know what they did with the money and where are the $20 billion that they took out in loans.”
The new Honduran president warned that this “plunder” caused poverty to increase by 74%, “turning us into the poorest country in Latin America.”
“This statistic itself explains the [migrant] caravan of thousands of people looking for opportunities,” she said.
Other countries in Latin America have been caught in these same kinds of debt traps.
In 2018, Argentina’s right-wing President Mauricio Macri took the largest loan in the history of the International Monetary Fund (IMF): $57.1 billion.
This enormous debt incurred by Macri pushed the subsequent center-left government of President Alberto Fernández into a debt spiral that has made it very difficult to spend on social programs.
The IMF, which is dominated by the United States, and is used as an economic weapon to advance Washington’s foreign-policy agenda, has often trapped Global South nations in unpayable debt.
The IMF uses this debt as leverage to force countries to sell off their natural resources, privatize state-owned enterprises, slash social spending, and cut labor protections that challenge the interests of foreign corporations.
Puerto Rico, a US colony, also suffers from painful odious debt. The US government used this debt burden to impose an unelected Financial Oversight and Management Board that controls Puerto Rico’s spending, and has imposed devastating austerity measures on the Puerto Rican people.
Even Greece, a member of the European Union, has similarly been crushed under the weight of odious debt. While Greeks work the most hours in Europe, economics experts have said the country’s debt is impossible to pay off.


Instruction: Write an article about: US funds ‘independent journalists’ in Cuba to spread propaganda, ex CIA spy admits. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: CIA, Cuba, disinformation, information war, La Prensa, National Endowment for Democracy, NED, Nicaragua, propaganda, Venezuela

Output:
Former CIA analyst Fulton Armstrong told The Guardian that, in Cuba, “a lot of the so-called independent journalists are indirectly funded by the US”. They spread anti-government disinformation with the support of the NED.

(Se puede leer esta nota en español aquí.)
A former top CIA spy has admitted that the United States funds anti-government propagandists in Cuba who portray themselves as “independent journalists”.
Major British newspaper The Guardian spoke with CIA veteran Fulton Armstrong, whom it described as “the US intelligence community’s most senior analyst for Latin America from 2000 to 2004”.
Armstrong stated that, in Cuba, “a lot of the so-called independent journalists are indirectly funded by the US”.
The ex CIA analyst pointed out that, today, the Joe Biden administration bankrolls anti-government opposition forces in Cuba with at least $20 million in annual support for supposed “democracy promotion” activities.
The Guardian acknowledged that the CIA has a history of spreading disinformation inside Cuba, as part of a US information war aimed at destabilizing the revolutionary government. The newspaper wrote:
Financing media has long been part of Washington’s diplomatic toolkit.
In the 1960s in Cuba, Radio Swan, a CIA covert action programme, attempted not only a propaganda offensive to undermine support for Fidel Castro, but doubled up as a communication link, sending coded messages to paramilitaries during the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
A decade ago it emerged that the US government had paid contractors to create ZunZuneo, a social network built on texts, to organize “smart mobs” on the island. And during historic, largely spontaneous anti-government protests on the island in 2021, externally funded, externally directed bots made anti-government hashtags trend on Twitter.
Still today, Washington funds another prominent Spanish-language, anti-Cuba disinformation outlet called Radio y Televisión Martí, which is part of the government’s propaganda arm the US Agency for Global Media (formerly known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors).
Armstrong, the former CIA agent, explained to The Guardian the US destabilization strategy in financing opposition media outlets in foreign countries like Cuba:
US programs are designed with a win-win strategy. We win if the opposition media gain a foothold, and we win if they provoke government repression.
That thrusts the government into a dilemma – to let the organizing and funding go forward or to risk image and credibility by crushing it.
In addition to spying for the CIA, Armstrong worked for the State Department’s US Interests Section in Cuba (a diplomatic office located inside Switzerland’s embassy in Havana).
Armstrong served as the US “National Intelligence Officer for Latin America”, the intelligence community’s top analyst focused on the region. He also oversaw Latin America for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Guardian – which is itself closely linked to and collaborates with the UK’s intelligence services – portrayed the Cuban government as repressive for cracking down on foreign-funded disinformation agents.
The British newspaper gloated over the large revenue streams that anti-government media outlets in Cuba have, writing, “Tiny state salaries have also been unable to compete with the private sector”.
While The Guardian praised two right-wing Cuban opposition media outlets, called El Toque and El Estornudo, it admitted that both are bankrolled by the US government.
El Toque disclosed to The Guardian that “it has received US federal funds ‘indirectly’ as part of a mix of money from corporations and foundations”.
El Estornudo is financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a notorious instrument of US regime-change operations that has meddled in the internal politics of countries all around the world.
A co-founder of the NED, Allen Weinstein, told the Washington Post in 1991, “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA“.
The NED reported that it gave El Estornudo $180,000 in 2021 – a huge sum of money in any Latin American country, but especially in Cuba, which has trouble getting access to dollars due to Washington’s illegal, six-decade blockade against it.

In a 1977 report titled “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A.“, the New York Times admitted that the CIA had established a media outlet in the early 1960s called Free Cuba Radio, whose “propaganda broadcasts against the Government of Prime Minister Fidel Castro were carried over radio stations” in various cities inside the US and in the Caribbean.
The prominent newspaper explained:
One motive for establishing the Free Cuba radio network, a former C.I.A. official said he recalled, was to have periods of air time available in advance in case Radio Swan, meant to be the main communications link for the Bay of Pigs invasion, was destroyed by saboteurs.
Radio Swan’s cover was thin enough to warrant such concern. The powerful station, whose broadcasts could be heard over much of the Western Hemisphere, was operated by a steamship company in New York that had not owned a steamship for some time.
The United States has used the same tactics to try to destabilize the leftist governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The NED has spent hundreds of millions of dollars funding right-wing opposition media outlets and so-called “civil society organizations” in Venezuela.
Many of these groups have been complicit in violence and participated in coup attempts against democratically elected Presidents Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.
In Nicaragua in the 1980s, the CIA supported far-right death squads known as the Contras (short for “Counterrevolutionaries”), who burned down schools and hospitals and waged a campaign of terror to try to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government.
A key part of the US hybrid war on Nicaragua in the 1980s, and still today, included the dissemination of disinformation through NED-funded newspapers like La Prensa, which is owned by the Central American nation’s most powerful right-wing oligarch family, the Chamorro dynasty.
After the Sandinista Front returned to power in 2007, through democratic elections, the US again began pouring millions of dollars into opposition media outlets in Nicaragua.
During a bloody coup attempt in 2018, US-funded Nicaraguan opposition media outlets spread extreme propaganda and fake news, openly inciting violence and encouraging people to murder President Daniel Ortega and hang his body in public.
Right-wing Nicaraguan media outlets funded by the US government constantly spread blatant fake news to attack the Sandinistas https://t.co/hzafT2yLH0
— Geopolitical Economy Report (@GeopoliticEcon) August 8, 2022


Instruction: Write an article about: US war on China/Russia targets new multipolar world, sabotages global economy: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: China, Daniel Ortega, FSLN, imperialism, multipolarity, Nancy Pelosi, Nicaragua, Russia, Sandinistas

Output:
Analyzing the geopolitical crisis, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said the US war on China and Russia is an attack on the new world of “multipolarism,” because “North American imperialism is trying to maintain its hegemony at all costs, even at the risk of sinking its own economy.”

In a fiery speech denouncing US imperialism, Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega analyzed the shifting balance of power in the world today. He explained that “a new order is being born in the world that buries imperialism, buries the colonialists, and opens the way to a democracy of nations, a multipolarism that is manifesting itself in various ways.”
But in an attempt to halt this transition to a multipolar world, the United States is waging war on China and Russia, Ortega continued. “North American imperialism is trying to maintain its hegemony at all costs, even at the risk of sinking its own economy,” he said.

The Nicaraguan revolutionary leader argued that “fascism left its roots and is embedded” in parts of the United States and Europe, and they “have the objective of trying to destroy the People’s Republic of China” and the Russian Federation.
The Western “ideologues of imperialism” are “worried,” Ortega added, because “they see the People’s Republic of China providing benefits to the peoples” of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, “and they feel that they are losing the power to keep these peoples enslaved.”

President Ortega made these remarks at a August 2 event marking the anniversary of the Nicaraguan Air Force.
He had also made similar comments on July 19, commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, on which Multipolarista reported.
The Nicaraguan leader’s August 2 speech expanded his geopolitical analysis in greater detail.
Multipolarista has translated excerpts of President Ortega’s speech and published them below.
Ortega noted that we live in a “world that goes from explosion to explosion.” He then continued:
“They are explosions that are part of a birth – a new order is being born in the world that buries imperialism, buries the colonialists, and opens the way to a democracy of nations, a multipolarism that is manifesting itself in various ways.”
“We see the initiatives emerging in different spaces, and on the other hand we see North American imperialism trying to maintain its hegemony at all costs, even at the risk of sinking its own economy.”
“But in the arrogant attitude of feeling that they can still maintain their hegemony, that they can and must defend their hegemony, what they are doing is sinking themselves. They are sinking themselves, and they are causing great harm to the North American people.”
“And with all the sanctions that have been imposed on the Russian Federation, that is waging a just war against fascism, against Nazism, which is entrenched there in the power of the coup-plotters in Ukraine, they are destroying the European economy, and they are liquidating NATO – they are liquidating it with every aggressive action, with the multiple decisions that they have made to try to destroy the Russian Federation.”
“They also have the objective of trying to destroy the People’s Republic of China, because they see them as the two great powers that are already overtaking them, in terms of development, in terms of science, in terms of technology.”
“And they have gone against the Russian Federation, but there is Russia fighting back against fascism. Fascism did not disappear with the fall of the bunker, where the first to arrive were the soldiers of the Red Army, and they planted the flag where the command post of the tyrant Hitler had been.”
“Fascism left its roots and is embedded in some European countries, and it is embedded in North American society, and it is embedded there in Ukraine – yes, a fascist government.”
“And while this situation affects the richest countries, it affects all of humanity, it affects the world economy, but the North American empire does not care, thinking that its strength is so great that it will be able to win by trampling on and destroying the world.”
“And what can clearly be seen is the crazy attitude where we see it (the United States) carrying out aggressions against the People’s Republic of China. What harm has the People’s Republic of China done to the United States? What harm has the People’s Republic of China done to the peoples of the world? What harm has the People’s Republic of China done to the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, of Africa, of Asia?”
“The same ideologues of imperialism say it, that what worries them is that they see the People’s Republic of China providing benefits to these peoples, and they feel that they are losing the power to keep these peoples enslaved. They say it very clearly, that is, they are annoyed, angry, because the People’s Republic of China is investing billions in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America.”
“They are investments for the development of our peoples. Ah, for them (the United States) that’s bad. But why don’t they do that? Why don’t they bring those investments? Why have they never brought them on the conditions that the People’s Republic of China is bringing them?”
“But it is truly an act of madness that they are attacking the People’s Republic of China, simply because it is a power that is growing, without harming anyone.”
“And they are launching a challenge, a provocation, this morning (August 2), when we see a top representative of the North American state, of the government of the United States, (Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives), with the arrogant attitude of invasion. It is an act of invasion!”
“That is in the blood of the yankee empire, the practice of invasion. And it says, ‘Here I come! Here I come!’ They feel they have the right to invade, a territory which they know well, because they were part of those agreements and were part of the resolutions that were passed in the United Nations, when they agreed on the existence of just one China.”
“But deep down they did not agree, and the proof is that, we see it now, them launching a provocation. It is a provocation, because it is a power like the United States invading, entering with its official plane, one of the highest authorities of the North American state entering, because she decided so, and because the government of the United States itself is endorsing and applauding it.”
“She (Pelosi) is logically part of the government, from which she flew with her plane, sure that the People’s Republic of China was not going to do what they do, to drone strike them to destroy the plane. Because they are used to launching drone strikes everywhere, killing.”
“They launched a drone strike against our brother Nicolás Maduro there in Venezuela, during a ceremony where they were going to strike all the ministers, officials, army commanders who were with Nicolás presiding over the ceremony. That was them (the United States).”
“And now they are launching drone strikes again in Afghanistan, and boasting that they launched a drone strike where they killed a leader they describe as a terrorist. After they left, fleeing Afghanistan, after they signed agreements right there that this practice was going to end, now they come and they need blood in the current conditions, so they launch the drone strike, and the cowboy comes out boasting.”
“And as I was saying, they sent the plane knowing that the brothers of the People’s Republic of China are not terrorists, and they were not going to shoot down that plane, or strike it with a drone.”
“It is an act of arrogance, of trying to reaffirm that they are the hegemonic power, that they continue to be the hegemonic power that is going to destroy the Russian Federation, and is destroying the countries of the European Union, that is destroying the economy, that is destroying trade, that is destroying their possibility of even living. Why? Because winter is coming and heating is needed. In other words, it (the United States) is exposing them to death.”
“And this step that they have taken today, which we have logically condemned, is an act that has no way of characterizing it other than as a crazy act of those who feel that the empire is collapsing. They are the insane acts of people like Hitler, who feel that they have an empire and therefore seek to strengthen their positions by setting off to challenge the People’s Republic of China, to invade. It is an invasion that occurred today. It is an invasion. It is a crime.”
“And we are sure, yes, that the Chinese people have strength, historical intelligence, experience – there, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, it is there. We are sure that they will know how to provide the correct answer that will further strengthen the People’s Republic of China and will further weaken the hegemony that the US government is trying to maintain at all costs.”
…
“They have to learn to respect, the United States has to learn to respect all the peoples of the world, if they want them to respect them. Meanwhile, well, the struggle is going to continue.”
“And as I was saying, in the middle of all these explosions of violence that are taking place everywhere on our planet, these economic tensions, tensions around fuels, tensions around food, all the great tensions that there are in these moments in the world, in the middle of all this, here a new world is being formed. A new world is being born. And that new world is going to be a democratic world, where there will be respect between nations, where there will be cooperation between nations, where there will be no threats between nations.”
“I am certain, I am sure, that that world is being built. It is already being forged. And that is the world that is going to bring peace, stability, to humanity.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, dear comrades, let’s continue with our effort, with the tasks that you carry out every day, contributing to the forging of this new world. Our little grain of sand, yes, we are providing it from Nicaragua, contributing to the forging of this new world.”
In his same speech on August 2, President Daniel Ortega emphasized that Nicaragua’s military, which was re-created after the 1979 Sandinista Revolution that he helped lead, “was born at the clamor of the struggle for self-determination, for independence, for sovereignty,” following “the thought, the example of our General Sandino.”
Ortega used the anniversary event to call for Latin America to unite:
“These are times that call for integration. Today more than ever they call for the integration of Central America, here in Latin America and the Caribbean. And in that process of integration, the path is in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance).”
“The ALBA was the bridge that opened it, inspired by our brother, Commander Hugo Chávez, and by Fidel (Castro), the bridge that was opened with a spirit of solidarity, a spirit of developing collaboration, cooperation, taking into account the imbalances between our countries.”
“At no time was the ALBA considered to be a mercantile project, but rather a project full of humanism, full of solidarity, full of love. And imperialism, logically, did not like that.”
“The ALBA brings benefits to the most impoverished peoples of this region, without any conditions, to Central America as well as to the brothers of the Caribbean, there are so many benefits.”
“Then the Empire tried to destroy ALBA, thus affecting the poorest people of our region, because the empire has not been able to provide the levels of unconditional cooperation that ALBA has provided, that the Bolivarian Revolution has provided to our peoples, even with the empire being a thousand times more powerful in economic terms, in financial terms, than Venezuela, than Cuba.”
In the August 2 anniversary event, President Daniel Ortega praised Venezuela for the “generous attitude” it showed in its Petrocaribe program, which provided energy to Nicaragua at very low prices.
Ortega recalled that, after the Sandinista Front returned to power democratically by winning the 2006 elections, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez helped Nicaragua to develop programs, build power plants, and build infrastructure in order to expand access to electricity in poor and working neighborhoods, which had been abandoned by the right-wing US-backed neoliberal regimes that governed Nicaragua from 1990 until 2007.
“In that moment, Chávez did not ask for guarantees, nor did we sign a contract so that later we would pay them for the plants,” Ortega said.
“No capitalist country, no capitalist government in the world offered us cooperation of that type, not to their neighboring countries, not to the African peoples that had been conquered and enslaved by them,” he added.
“The pro-imperialist capitalists did not worry about investing in energy plants while they were in power in government for 17 years.”
The Nicaraguan president continued: “And here we cannot forget it, we can never forget it, that in the year 2006, when there was a third neoliberal government ruling our country, under the tutelage of the North American government; here illiteracy, poverty, hunger had multiplied; education and healthcare had been privatized; and they had abandoned the public projects that we had been developing since the triumph of the revolution. They were simply governments that thought about the strengthening, the enrichment of a minority.”
“They did not care about the country either,” Ortega said. “The energy service began to disappear in our country. Yes, it is incredible, but the energy service was disappearing because they were making themselves rich at whatever cost. They did not invest in the field of energy. And already in the year 2006, when the third neoliberal government was in Nicaragua, we had blackouts every day. The plants were paralyzed, the economic activity affected, everyone affected. I mean, if there is no energy, a country simply sinks.”
“And logically, the United States was not willing to offer cooperation to the people,” he added. “Only a revolution with a truly generous soul, like the Bolivarian Revolution, would act in that way.”
President Daniel Ortega also emphasized in his August 2 speech the importance of Nicaragua’s alliance with the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation today.
“We have always counted on the invaluable cooperation, since the triumph of the (Sandinista) Revolution, cooperation in all fields that was given to us by another revolution: the October Revolution (in Russia),” he said.
“In the middle of antagonisms, in the middle of the harassment, in the middle of the blockade, in the middle of the counter-revolution that was launched against the (Sandinista) Revolution, we found ourselves with the Soviet Union, led by Russia.”
The Nicaraguan president explained, “There were two extraordinary moments in our history: the invaluable cooperation of the Russian people, headed then by what was the Soviet Union, and then, in this new stage, the invaluable cooperation of the Bolivarian Revolution, headed by Commander Hugo Chávez.”
“And in this new stage we linked again, as expected, with the Russian Federation, we linked, it was normal that we linked with a sense of cooperation, a sense of friendship,” he added.
“When has the United States donated wheat? No, they put it on the market. The brothers of the Russian Federation have donated wheat to our people.”
Ortega continued, “Here, in those 17 years of neoliberal governments, public transportation vehicles were not updated and public transportation was totally destroyed. In this, the Russian Federation cooperated with us, and Mexico as well – cooperation that we have always appreciated, from the Mexican people and government.”
The Nicaraguan leader was referencing the fact that Russia provided 550 new buses in 2021, so the Central American nation could modernize its public transportation system. 250 of these buses were donations, a gift of the Russian people to the Nicaraguan people.


Instruction: Write an article about: Venezuelan’s view on Gustavo Petro victory in Colombia, US sanctions, Iran pact. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Colombia, Francia Márquez, Gustavo Petro, Iran, oil, sanctions, Venezuela

Output:
A leftist Venezuelan journalist discusses the victory of left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro in Colombia’s presidential election, the easing of a few US sanctions, and Venezuela’s 20-year cooperation agreement with Iran.

Multipolarista host Benjamin Norton speaks with Venezuelan journalist Jesús Rodríguez Espinoza, editor of independent news outlet the Orinoco Tribune, about the victory of left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro in Colombia’s presidential election, the easing of a few US sanctions, and Venezuela’s 20-year cooperation agreement with Iran.
You can read the Orinoco Tribune at orinocotribune.com


Instruction: Write an article about: Brazil at crossroads: Bolsonaro means subordination and deindustrialization, Lula means independence and development. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Brazil, China, Jair Bolsonaro, lawfare, Lula da Silva, religion

Output:
Round two of Brazil’s presidential election offers deeply opposing visions: Bolsonaro would mean more subordination and deindustrialization. Lula would mean independence, economic nationalism, and multipolarity.

The first round of the general elections in Brazil was held on October 2, and the results show that the country is at a crossroads.
Former President Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, or PT) did not achieve victory in round one, and will face current far-right President Jair Bolsonaro in a run-off on October 30.
Lula da Silva obtained 48.4% of the valid votes, while Bolsonaro reached 43.2%. The other candidates combined did not get 9% of the valid votes.
The results of the elections point to a great paradox: despite being ahead of Bolsonaro, the Brazilian left did not obtain a significant vote for state governments and did not even win a third of the seats in the two chambers of the Congress, the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
The far right has consolidated itself as a real political force with a mass base. It elected a majority of federal deputies, and has candidates for governor in very competitive states in the second round.
The explanation for this is not simple.
Lula da Silva, at 76 years old, is the greatest popular leader in the country’s history. He managed to demonstrate his own power, but he is up against an adversary who has gathered many of the fundamental tools needed for a competitive electoral campaign.
Bolsonaro’s strength lies in the economic power of large business sectors, combined with the use of ample public resources to guarantee a majority in Congress during his administration.
Bolsonaro has also created a so-called “secret budget,” a corrupt structure of patronage to maintain the political support of a great part of Brazilian congressmen.
But it is not just that. The Brazilian far right has created roots in the Brazilian population, and the reasons are not few.
Most notable is the systematic campaign attacking “communism,” as a way of mobilizing a broad social base highly influenced by Protestant churches.
The phenomenon of the growth of Protestant churches in Brazil is something to be studied. It is not strictly internal; it has great external support. The United States has played a role in disrupting entire societies by exporting far-right ideologies based on a strong religious base.
The extreme right is advancing in Brazil also as a result of a systematic campaign against “corruption.”
For over a decade, the right has been very successful in spreading a false image that links the political left to the practice of government corruption.
The media was fundamental in this campaign to weaken the left, turning politicized judges and public prosecutors into true “superheroes” in the fight against corruption.
This systematic campaign against alleged corruption, heavily supported by the US Department of Justice, has not only weakened the left; the liberal right itself was made politically unfeasible.
Thus, the fight against “corruption” was a form of hybrid war, or lawfare. And it has destroyed the Brazilian political system.
Bolsonaro is a product of this process.
The result of the first round of the Brazilian presidential election cannot be disconnected from the international reality either.
The advance of the far right has been a worldwide phenomenon since the 2008 international financial crisis. It has made significant advances in Europe and, especially, in the United States – the main disseminator of far-right sects around the world.
The big contradiction is that, in a world where the struggle for multipolarity is gaining strength, with countries like China and Russia taking confrontational positions against imperialist militarism, the consolidation of the extreme right in Brazil is a bad sign for global politics.
On the other hand, some questions remain open and should be investigated.
What do Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro represent in terms of economic policy and foreign relations, especially in relation to countries like China?
Bolsonaro is the face of a very peculiar extreme right. He combines an ultra-conservative view on questions of cultural customs, and preaches “nationalism” against “communism,” but represents a radical neoliberal economic agenda.
In his government, Bolsonaro has very strongly continued the process of deindustrialization and expanded Brazil’s dependence on commodity exports, mainly to China.
This deindustrialization was accelerated by the Lava Jato (“Car Wash”) operation that destroyed the country’s most important economic and industrial sectors, along with the slow dismantling of the largest Brazilian company, Petrobras.
This has unleashed a disaster that is unprecedented in the history of Brazil. Currently, about 100 million Brazilians live in a state of food insecurity caused by this ultra-liberalism.
Lula da Silva represents an alternative vision, one that combines economic nationalism with the promise of resumption of industrial jobs and an active role for large public banks.
Lula tries to represent the promise of a national project based on the reindustrialization of the country, while Bolsonaro bets on a subordinate position of Brazil in global value chains.
Both perspectives have impacts on foreign relations. Certainly Lula would have a relationship with countries like China based not only on common global interests such as multipolarity, but also guided by Brazilian strategic interests.
Lula’s government could review the economic terms of our relations with China, recognizing that Beijing and its experience could help strengthen the industrialization process.
With Bolsonaro, the trend is toward deeper alignment with the United States – especially if Donald Trump’s team wins the 2024 elections – as well as greater dependence on commodity exports to China. This would only continue accelerating the process of deindustrialization.
But hope can overcome fear in Brazil. The second round of elections will take place on October 30.
The probability of Lula da Silva’s victory is great. But the fact is that the political strength shown by Jair Bolsonaro cannot be underestimated.
Brazil, a young nation of 523 years of age, is experiencing a true paradox. Either it consolidates itself as a great emerging power, capable of being an actor of global relevance, and capable of taking its place in a multipolar world; or it will have a destiny committed to the civilizational setback that the consolidation of the extreme right represents in our country.
The Brazilian extreme right is unpatriotic and relies on a racist and anti-popular elite. Its aesthetic does not match the beauty of the Brazilian people.
On October 30, we will be facing another chapter of a real battle for the Brazilian nation. Lula da Silva and Brazil could emerge victorious. That is what the progressives of the world expect.


Instruction: Write an article about: US President Bush praised dictator Fujimori as ‘Peru’s hope for the future’. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Alberto Fujimori, CIA, genocide, George H W Bush, Indigenous peoples, Keiko Fujimori, Peru, racism, USAID, Vladimiro Montesinos

Output:
US President George H. W. Bush welcomed far-right Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori to the White House in 1991, heroizing him as “Peru’s hope for the future” and praising his neoliberal economic policies.

(Se puede leer esta nota en español aquí.)
US President George H. W. Bush welcomed far-right Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori to the White House in September 1991, heroizing him as “Peru’s hope for the future”.
With US backing, Fujimori committed genocide, sterilizing roughly 300,000 Indigenous people while killing, terrorizing, and torturing thousands of leftist dissidents.
The former Peruvian dictator was later sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of crimes against humanity, murder, kidnapping, and corruption. He was convicted of ordering a military death squad to massacre poor people in rural areas.
But back in 1991, former CIA Director turned US President Bush praised Fujimori for the neoliberal economic reforms he imposed in Peru.
US President George H. W. Bush welcomed far-right Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori to the White House in 1991.
Bush heroized Fujimori as “Peru’s hope for the future”, and praised his neoliberal economic policies.
More information here: https://t.co/ikikPheeE0 pic.twitter.com/HrddVHeVmK
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) January 24, 2023

Bush told Fujimori at the White House with pride, “Mr. President, since taking office, you have cut government spending, eliminated price controls, knocked down barriers to trade and investment – and those reforms have begun paying off; they’ve begun paying dividends”.
“We want to be a full partner in your efforts to restore Peru’s economy”, Bush declared.
“We have spoken openly, discussing the tough challenges Peru faces, from economic hardship to renegade insurgencies, from the war against drugs to the battle to preserve human rights. And much has been done on all these fronts. But much more waits to be achieved”, the US president added.
“My administration wants to send $94 million in economic and military assistance”, Bush noted. But “unfortunately the Congress has placed a hold on disbursement of these funds, chiefly because of stated human rights concerns. We share these concerns and so do you, Mr. President”.
“But you have made progress on human rights, and let’s also then see progress on releasing these funds”, he continued.
Just a few months after this meeting, in April 1992, Fujimori carried out a “self-coup” or “auto-coup”, destroying Peru’s democratic state institutions and establishing a brutal dictatorship.
The Bush administration later superficially criticized Fujimori in public, but continued to support him.
US assistance continued when President Bill Clinton took power in 1993.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided funding for Fujimori’s “family planning” program, which he used as cover to commit genocide against Peru’s Indigenous nations, sterilizing nearly 300,000 people between 1996 and 2000.
Peru's far-right US-backed dictator Alberto Fujimori carried out genocide against Indigenous communities, sterilizing nearly 300,000 people.
His sterilization of Indigenous women received funding from the US Agency for International Development @USAID.https://t.co/63yXrqNBGg pic.twitter.com/NpQRkVZbt4
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) July 24, 2022

As the New Republic put it in 2018: “Under former President Fujimori, over 200,000 women were violated—one of the largest such projects since Nazi Germany. His party is still in power”.
USAID boasted in a report (emphasis added):
After the [United Nations] International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 and with political support from the president, the Peruvian Ministry of Health instituted a policy in 1995 mandating free contraceptives for all Peruvians through government facilities. As a result of this policy change, modern contraceptive use increased, particularly among rural and poor inhabitants.
USAID and other donors provided 100 percent of the contraceptives to the government while also providing technical assistance for training, supervision, education, information, and communication. Annual investments in family planning doubled from $12.9 million in 1994 to $28 million in 1998.
Fujimori committed many of his crimes with the help of his far-right intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, who was also imprisoned on dozens of charges, such as murder, drug trafficking, and bribery.
Montesinos was a longtime CIA asset who started his career by spying on Peru’s left-wing government and giving the United States confidential intelligence about Lima’s relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Today, the far-right followers of the former dictator, known as Fujimoristas, still have significant influence in Peru’s political system.
Fujimori’s daughter Keiko was the right wing’s leading presidential candidate in 2021, running against leftist Pedro Castillo.
Castillo won the election, but was subsequently overthrown in a US-backed parliamentary coup in December 2022.
A 2021 debate between Peru’s presidential candidates Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Castillo


Instruction: Write an article about: Brazil elections: Leftist Lula wins, goes to round 2 against far-right Bolsonaro. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Brazil, Camila Escalante, Jair Bolsonaro, Lula da Silva

Output:
Brazil’s leftist presidential candidate Lula da Silva won with 48.4% and over 6 million more votes than far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. The Workers’ Party is organizing with social movements in the lead-up to the October 30 runoff election.

Brazil’s left-wing former president Lula da Silva won the first round of the presidential election on October 2 with 48.43% of the vote.
Lula got over 6 million more votes than far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who earned 43.20%.
This put Lula just shy of the 50% he needed to avoid a runoff, which means the candidates will compete in round two on October 30.

To analyze the election results and what they mean for not just Brazil, but also Latin America and the world as a whole, Multipolarista editor Ben Norton spoke with journalist Camila Escalante, of Kawsachun News, who is reporting on the ground in São Paulo.

Escalante discussed what social movements in Brazil like the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) are saying, and why they are supporting Lula.
She also addresses how Bolsonaro’s policies have devastated Brazil’s economy, under the watch of Chicago Boy economic minister Paulo Guedes, an alumnus of the neoliberal University of Chicago who taught economics under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.


Instruction: Write an article about: EEUU secuestró y encarceló al diplomático venezolano Alex Saab por comprar alimentos. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Alex Saab, CLAP, Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela

Output:
El diplomático venezolano Alex Saab esencialmente fue secuestrado por Estados Unidos porque estaba comprando comida para el programa de alimentos del gobierno, los CLAP, para apoyar al pueblo de Venezuela.

(You can read this article in English here.)
Traducido por Michelle Ellner
“No es un delito cumplir una misión diplomática. No es un delito eludir sanciones que perjudican a todo un país. No puede ser ilegal ayudar a un pueblo”. Camilla Fabri Saab hizo estas vehementes declaraciones al explicar la situación en la que se encuentra la detención ilegal y la extradición -el secuestro, en esencia- de su marido, el diplomático venezolano Alex Saab.
Saab es prácticamente desconocido en Estados Unidos, donde actualmente permanece en una prisión de Miami, pero ha sido vital para la capacidad de Venezuela de sobrevivir a la brutal guerra económica emprendida por Estados Unidos.
Saab es un preso político cuyo caso tiene paralelismos con el de Julian Assange. Ambos han sido objeto de alcance extraterritorial por parte de las autoridades estadounidenses, ya que ninguno de los dos es ciudadano estadounidense y sus presuntos delitos tuvieron lugar fuera del país. Assange está en la cárcel por decir la verdad. Saab está en la cárcel por ayudar a alimentar a los venezolanos.
Saab se enfrenta a un cargo de conspiración para cometer lavado de dinero por su participación en el programa de vivienda de Venezuela y fue sancionado por la administración Trump en 2019 por su trabajo con el CLAP de Venezuela, un programa que envía alimentos y otros artículos de primera necesidad a las familias venezolanas.
Referido rutinariamente en los medios de comunicación como un empresario colombiano, Saab goza de doble nacionalidad venezolana y colombiana además de ser diplomático. Fue nombrado enviado especial de Venezuela en abril de 2018, más de dos años antes de su detención.
Según la Convención de Viena y la Ley de Relaciones Diplomáticas de Estados Unidos, un diplomático no puede ser detenido por una potencia extranjera. Esto incluye a los diplomáticos que están en tránsito entre los países emisores y receptores, Venezuela e Irán, en el caso de Saab.
Alex Saab volaba de Venezuela a Irán cuando su avión se detuvo para repostar en Cabo Verde, un país insular situado en la costa occidental de África. Fue detenido sin orden judicial y retenido en Cabo Verde durante casi 500 días mientras se desarrollaba en los tribunales una prolongada batalla sobre su extradición a Estados Unidos.
Fue golpeado, le fue negada la atención médica y se le mantuvo aislado. Cabo Verde hizo caso omiso a una sentencia de un tribunal regional que ordenaba su liberación, así como a una decisión del Comité de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas que suspendía su extradición. Ni su familia ni sus abogados fueron informados de su extradición hasta después de que se produjo.
En resumen, Saab fue secuestrado dos veces: una cuando su avión estaba repostando y otra cuando fue trasladado a Estados Unidos.
Estados Unidos argumenta que la extradición fue legal y que cualquier violación de la Convención de Viena fue cometida por Cabo Verde. David Rivkin, uno de los abogados de Saab, dice que el hecho de que “Cabo Verde haya violado absolutamente su obligación legal no proporciona ninguna excusa a Estados Unidos”.
Rivkin describe el caso contra Saab como “sin precedentes”, dada la  amplia y protectora visión que Estados Unidos ha mantenido habitualmente sobre la inmunidad diplomática. Saab tiene una comparecencia en abril ante el Tribunal de Apelación del Undécimo Circuito sobre esta misma cuestión.
“Estados Unidos no puede tener un mundo en el que terceros países puedan molestar a los diplomáticos estadounidenses, y si se establece una norma que dice que los diplomáticos de terceros países pueden ser molestados por Estados Unidos, es inevitable que ocurra lo mismo con los diplomáticos estadounidenses. Este enjuiciamiento no tiene ninguna base legal y no redunda en los intereses a largo plazo del propio Estados Unidos”, explica Rivkin.
Más allá de la cuestión crucial de la inmunidad diplomática, los cargos y el caso contra Saab son claramente políticos. Durante años, Estados Unidos ha perseguido a figuras clave en Venezuela, incluso poniendo recompensas sobre el presidente Maduro y otros, como parte de sus intentos de derrocar al gobierno.
Estos intentos, que incluyen librar una guerra económica bárbara e ilegal que ha diezmado la economía de Venezuela, han provocado un aumento de la migración y han causado la muerte de decenas de miles de venezolanos. Camila Saab califica con razón las sanciones de Estados Unidos como un “acto de guerra contra toda la población venezolana”.
Su marido desempeñó un papel clave en la mitigación de las terribles consecuencias de las sanciones. Se involucró por primera vez con Venezuela al conseguir contratos para la Gran Misión Vivienda, un programa social del gobierno que ha construido 3,9 millones de viviendas para los venezolanos de clase trabajadora desde 2011, la mayoría bajo las sanciones impuestas al país.
Luego Saab obtuvo contratos para el programa venezolano CLAP, a través del cual 7 millones de familias venezolanas reciben cajas de alimentos y bienes esenciales cada mes.
Las sanciones no sólo dificultan la vida de los venezolanos, sino que hacen que sea un reto hacer negocios con Venezuela. Los bancos se niegan a realizar transacciones (incluso cuando son perfectamente legales). Las compañías de seguros suben los precios o se retiran por completo. Las compañías navieras suben las tarifas. Los vendedores exigen dinero en efectivo y no operan a crédito.
En lugar de retirarse de Venezuela, como hicieron muchos empresarios, Saab decidió seguir con el pueblo venezolano y pasó del sector privado al público, convirtiéndose en diplomático encargado de encontrar “soluciones prácticas” al “bloqueo económico y financiero” impuesto a Venezuela desde 2015, lo cual incluía la negociación de acuerdos comerciales con Irán.
La relación económica con Irán ha sido fundamental para ayudar a la recuperación de la industria petrolera de Venezuela y, por extensión, de su economía.
Saab desempeñó un papel fundamental en los acuerdos comerciales entre Irán y Venezuela para todo tipo de productos, desde gasolina y repuestos hasta alimentos y medicinas. Según Forbes, Saab era un blanco de Estados Unidos porque tenía “los medios y los conocimientos técnicos para ayudar a mantener discretamente toda una economía en movimiento bajo los ojos de un mundo vigilante”.
Saab ha negado las acusaciones en su contra y señala una investigación suiza que se abandonó luego de tres años por falta de pruebas.
“Los méritos de las acusaciones son débiles a primera vista. Implican actividades que no tuvieron lugar en Estados Unidos y su conexión con Estados Unidos es muy tenue”, dice el abogado David Rivkin.
Su detención en Cabo Verde, a instancias del gobierno estadounidense, se produjo apenas unos meses después de que Trump anunciara una campaña de “máxima presión” sobre Venezuela. Su extradición a Estados Unidos descarriló el diálogo entre el gobierno y la oposición venezolana.
Estados Unidos planea ahora “presionar” a Saab “para que arroje luz sobre la red económica de Venezuela tras las sanciones”, según Forbes. Después de soportar ser torturado en Cabo Verde, la palabra presión se queda corta.
“Desde el día que él voló a Irán, nos han perseguido a todos. Nos han acosado en los medios de comunicación, nos han demonizado, no nos han dejado verle”, dijo Camilla Saab, describiendo lo que ha sufrido su familia.
Alex Saab, sobreviviente de cáncer, no ha podido tomar sus medicamentos diarios desde su detención. Ha perdido 65 libras. Sus padres murieron de COVID-19 mientras él estaba encarcelado en Cabo Verde.
Su familia ha sufrido también. Sus hijos adultos fueron sancionados por la administración Trump. Su hija menor nunca lo ha conocido. Sin embargo, en todas sus comunicaciones, Saab mantiene su lealtad al pueblo venezolano.
Al perseguirlo, Camila Saab cree que Estados Unidos está enviando un mensaje: “Intentan intimidar, pero el pueblo venezolano resiste y sigue en su lucha por la soberanía. Estados Unidos no es la policía del mundo. Liberen a Alex Saab”.


Instruction: Write an article about: ‘Mexico is not a colony’: President AMLO criticizes US claim it hosts Russian spies. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico, Northcom, Northern Command, Russia

Output:
Left-wing Mexican President AMLO criticized the US government accusation that his country hosts more Russian spies than any other, stating “Mexico is not a colony of any foreign country. Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country.”

Mexico’s left-wing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has criticized the United States for claiming his country hosts more Russian spies than any other.
“We need to send them telegrams, informing them that Mexico is not a colony of any foreign country, that Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country,” declared López Obrador, who is known popularly by the acronym AMLO.
“More and more this should be known, because sometimes it appears that it is not understood well enough,” the Mexican president added.
Mexico's left-wing President AMLO criticized the US claim that his country hosts Russian spies
"We need to send them telegrams informing them Mexico is not a colony of any foreign country, that Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country"
Read more: https://t.co/9c6QqmzTDf pic.twitter.com/w7225NJCb2
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 27, 2022

The leader of US Northern Command (Northcom), General Glen VanHerck, claimed in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 24 that Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency the GRU supposedly has more spies in Mexico than anywhere else.
The general accused Russia of using Mexico to spy on and try to infiltrate the United States, alleging “that most of the GRU members in the world are in Mexico at the moment,” and that “they keep a very close eye on their chances of influencing the opportunities and access that the United States has.”
AMLO rejected the US government’s accusations in his morning press conference on March 25.
“We are not a colony of Russia, or of China, or of the United States,” AMLO asserted. “Mexico is an independent country, free and sovereign.”
“We don’t have information about that,” he stated in response to the US general’s allegations.
AMLO said Washington has the right to share its views, because, “We respect the free expression of ideas.” But he condemned the idea that Mexico is controlled by any foreign power.
President López Obrador also stressed that Mexico maintains an independent, non-aligned foreign policy, which respects all countries.
“We have a policy of non-intervention,” AMLO explained.
“We don’t go to Moscow to spy on anyone, nor do we go to Beijing to spy on what they’re doing in China, nor do we go to Washington, or even to Los Angeles. We don’t involve ourselves in that.”
The president added that his government respects the rights of foreigners who abide by Mexico’s laws, while those who violate the law will be detained and face consequences.
AMLO has repeatedly criticized the US government for funding right-wing opposition groups in Mexico.
He also condemned the European Union for meddling in his country’s internal affairs. In a scathing open letter on March 10, AMLO’s office denounced the European Parliament as “flunkies of the reactionary and coup-plotting strategy of the corrupt” right-wing Mexican opposition.
The European Parliament condemned Mexico’s left-wing President AMLO for his “populist rhetoric” against the biased corporate media
He responded by blasting the EU body as a reactionary gang of coup-plotters, declaring “we are no longer a colony of anyone”https://t.co/D9qXQbiIdQ
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 11, 2022

AMLO called on Brussels to “evolve, leave behind your obsessive meddling disguised as good intentions,” adding, “Don’t forget that we are no longer a colony of anyone. Mexico is a free, independent, and sovereign country.”
In both his March 25 press conference and his March 10 letter to the European Parliament, AMLO quoted former president Benito Juárez, who said, “Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.”
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the United States pressured Mexico to join the Western powers in imposing sanctions on Moscow, but AMLO refused, emphasizing Mexico’s policy of non-intervention.
López Obrador has enjoyed a consistent 66% approval rating among Mexicans, making him one of the world’s most popular leaders.


Instruction: Write an article about: US and Colombia do military exercises with nuclear submarine near Venezuela, after sending warship through Taiwan Strait. Use the themes and topics represented by the tags provided as guidance for the content. It's not necessary to include the exact tag words in the article, but the article should reflect the essence and context of these tags.

Input: Colombia, nuclear submarine, Taiwan, Ukraine, Venezuela

Output:
While the world is focused on Ukraine, the US and Colombia threatened Venezuela in military exercises with a nuclear submarine, a day after Washington intimidated China by sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait.

(Se puede leer este artículo en español aquí.)
While the world is fixated on the war in Ukraine, the United States is taking provocative military actions against Venezuela and China.
The US and Colombia held military exercises with a nuclear submarine in the Caribbean Sea, near Venezuela, just one day after Washington sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait.
Both Venezuela and China saw the US military moves as clear threats, condemning the actions as provocative.
On February 27 and 28, the US Navy held anti-submarine warfare exercises with the Colombian Navy.
Colombia’s Ministry of Defense boasted that this was the first time they had done a military exercise with a nuclear submarine, the USS Minnesota.
Por primera vez fue utilizado un submarino nuclear en un ejercicio de interoperabilidad entre Colombia y EE.UU. El submarino USS Minnesota ?? y  el ARC ‘Pijao’ ?? pusieron a prueba sus capacidades, ratificando la cooperación y confianza entre ambos países. @ArmadaColombia @USNavy pic.twitter.com/WcGkBsVlvL
— Mindefensa (@mindefensa) February 28, 2022

US Southern Command (Southcom) shared photos of the exercises on its official Instagram account.

A post shared by U.S. Southern Command (@ussouthcom)

The Colombian Defense Ministry emphasized that the exercise highlighted the “interoperability between Colombia and the US.”
The private intelligence firm Stratfor, which is popularly known as the “shadow CIA,” noted that the US military exercises with Colombia were “within [the] scope of NATO.”
Although the US-led military alliance is called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the South American nation is decidedly not in the North Atlantic region, Colombia is a special “partner” of NATO.
It is NATO’s first and only “partner” in Latin America.
Washington and Bogotá claimed the exercises were aimed at fighting drug trafficking, but in reality Colombia’s government is deeply linked to drug cartels, organized crime, and violent paramilitary groups.
Colombia’s former president Álvaro Uribe, the most powerful politician in the country and a top ally of Washington, works closely with drug cartels and death squads. And Colombia’s current, far-right president, Iván Duque, only came to power because Uribe ordered an infamous drug dealer, Ñeñe Hernández, to buy votes for him.
The Colombian Navy said it felt “proud” to collaborate with the US military and deepen their integration.
? La @ArmadaColombia se siente orgullosa de hacer parte de la operación “Contralmirante José David Espitia Jiménez” en aguas del Caribe, para el progreso de la educación marítima, siendo participe de la protección y el desarrollo de los intereses nacionales. ???? pic.twitter.com/nBHTPJFGYL
— Armada de Colombia (@ArmadaColombia) February 28, 2022

For its part, Venezuela recognized the US-Colombian military exercises near its borders with a nuclear submarine as a blatant threat.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino tweeted, “Why is there such imperialist flashiness? Is this a copy of NATO expansion in the Mediterranean of the Americas?”
“You don’t battle drug trafficking, the war in Arauca [in Colombia], systematic murders and terrorist groups with nuclear submarines,” he wrote. “I categorically reject this.”
¿Para qué tanta ostentación imperialista?¿Es una réplica de la expansión Otanista en el Mediterráneo de América? El narcotráfico, la guerra en Arauca, los asesinatos sistemáticos y los grupos terroristas no se combaten con submarinos nucleares. Lo rechazo de manera categórica. pic.twitter.com/aDeLONv5AO
— Vladimir Padrino L. (@vladimirpadrino) February 28, 2022

Just one day before these US-Colombian naval exercises started, Washington threatened China by sending a large warship through the Taiwan Strait.
On February 26, the US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson sailed through the narrow strait.
Destroyer USS Ralph Johnson Performs Taiwan Strait Transit – USNI News https://t.co/joAxUU4480 pic.twitter.com/VG0Izmujkn
— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) February 28, 2022

China condemned the exercise as “provocative.”
“It is hypocritical and futile for the US to conduct this provocative action in an attempt to bolster the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” the Chinese military said.
Beijing’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, then added, “If the US wants to embolden the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces in this way, then we have this to say to the US: such move will only accelerate the demise of the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces.”
“The US will also pay a heavy price for its adventurist act,” he continued. “If the US tries to intimidate and pressure China in this way, then we have this stern warning: the so-called military deterrence will be reduced to scrap iron when facing the steely great wall of the 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
Comment on the US guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson's recently sail through the Taiwan Strait and all the hype. pic.twitter.com/j5RXw7Vw28
— XIE Yongjun 解勇军 (@XIEYongjun_CHN) March 1, 2022