Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, is striving to show that its fight against drugs is succeeding. It is a decisive factor in its global image, but also in its economic and political relationship with the United States, its main trading partner. Rather than focusing on crop eradication and aerial fumigation, the government of Gustavo Petro has placed its biggest bet on cocaine seizures — and it has reached record levels.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now in its fifth year and shows no signs of ending. The strain on the militaries on both sides of the border has increased both countries’ reliance on recruiting thousands of foreigners, who are primarily sent to high-risk operations on the front lines. Several governments have warned against this practice and urged their citizens not to fall for the lucrative offers, which are often deceptive. A new report published on Wednesday by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and two other organizations analyzes the recruitment of foreigners in Russia and documents Moscow’s campaign to target vulnerable populations through misleading strategies.

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Like any influencer, Valentina Gomez thrives on controversy. But this 26-year-old from Colombia is not like any other content creator: her social media platforms promote hatred against Muslims, whom she accuses of being rapists, and against immigrants, despite having been one herself.

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Jorge Cubillos, a 42-year-old Colombian, could not believe what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were telling him. After being detained for more than three months by U.S. immigration authorities on a deportation order, the agents had just told him what the outcome would be: a flight to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Central African nation that has made a deal with the Trump Administration to temporarily receive migrants from third countries expelled by Washington. “Those months of confinement teach you to be strong, but at that moment I broke down. I thought about my children and started to pray. We were being taken in chains to a country we don’t know, on the other side of the world. I never thought I would get to know Africa under these circumstances,” Cubillos says by phone from Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, which, since Friday, has become his makeshift home.

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