Medellín, Colombia – The U.S. Southern Command announced last Wednesday that it had launched a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” killing four people. 

The strike came just weeks after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) met to discuss the campaign’s legality on March 13.

Wednesday marked the 47th reported attack since the Donald Trump administration began ‘Operation Southern Spear’ in September, which has claimed the lives of at least 163 people in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. 

At the IACHR hearing in Guatemala City earlier this month, various human rights and international law experts, including the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights, Ben Saul, denounced the strikes.

“These unprovoked serial extrajudicial killings have no justification under international law and gravely violate the right to life. They are not actions in national self-defense, personal self-defense, or the defense of others,” said Saul, calling for the prosecution of the military and political leaders behind the attacks. 

The U.S. has repeatedly defended the strikes describing them as a justified response to the deaths caused by drugs entering the States.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, highlighted the need to hold the U.S. to the same legal standards as any other country for their part in these “premeditated and intentional extrajudicial killings.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also condemned the United States’ bombing campaign in Latin America as illegal in a statement published this Tuesday. 

“The United States’ latest strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, which reportedly killed four people, highlights a sustained pattern of unlawful use of lethal force outside any context of armed conflict, amounting to extrajudicial executions,” said the rights group. 

“These strikes aren’t one-off incidents, they’re part of a pattern of using military force where the law does not permit it,” said Sarah Yager, HRW’s Washington Director. “The fact that these strikes have faded from public attention does not make these violations any less grave or unlawful.”

Families of the dead have already launched legal challenges. Relatives of two fishermen killed off the coast of Venezuela in October – Chad Joseph and Rishi Samaro – filed legal complaints against the U.S. government in January. The U.S. has never publicly identified those killed or provided evidence of their wrongdoing.

Featured image: A boat strike carried out in October 2025. Image credit: US navy.

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Migrant farmworker advocates have alerted Prime Minister Mark Carney that they will be submitting a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee in December to mark International Migrant’s Day. The complaint will highlight what advocates say is the government’s failure to act on the preventable deaths of migrant farmworkers. 

The complaint will be filed by Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW), a grassroots political organization with more than 20 years of organizing experience. 

“What we’re seeing is that agricultural work, by design, is violent, dangerous, dehumanizing and it’s dirty,” Chris Ramsaroop, an longtime J4MW organizer, . “Structurally, we create workplaces such as agriculture where people’s lives – particularly racialized workers – are not valued. We want to shed a light on this.” 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) classifies agriculture work as one of the world’s most dangerous occupations. Workers are exposed to agrochemicals and can also sustain injuries when handling heavy machinery. The ILO estimates that 170,000 people working in agriculture die each year. 

These risks paired with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), which has been called a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, and has left migrant agricultural workers especially vulnerable to injury and death. On top of the common risks associated with carrying out agricultural work, migrant farmworkers also deal with high levels of anxiety and

stress due to family separation, unsafe and abusive workplace and precarity of their low-wage employment and immigration status.

“Racism and white supremacy are central to the creation of these programs,” Ramsaroop said. “In the 60s, when it came to talking about labor shortages, politicians were championing freedom, dignity and respect. They  spoke about how they couldn’t have controlled, contained or contracted labor when it came time for white Europeans. We had no qualms whatsoever about creating these conditions, first for black workers from Jamaica and then for workers from across the world.” 

J4MW wrote in their letter to the Prime Minister’s office that they will continue to demand inquests in migrant farmworker deaths, call for investigations and fight for justice. 

“We refuse to accept a system where indentured servitude is not merely a legacy but a clear and proud practice across this country,” the organization wrote in their letter. 

The Prime Minister’s office received rabble.ca’s request for comment but was unable to respond before deadline. 

Ramsaroop said he has felt unimpressed with past responses from the government to J4MW’s complaints.

READ MORE: Mark Carney favours the wealthy and privileged over working-class Canadians

“These are template responses and and there hasn’t been any real changes,” he said. “It’s not just that the government refuses to act. The government very much supports the agricultural industrial complex.” 

He said he hopes this complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee will push the government to finally take the action needed. 

“Historically, progressives have failed and have fallen to the tropes of white supremacy,” Ramsaroop added. “At this moment, while we’re calling for changes, it’s about ensuring that people have the ability to come as free and equal. Just because they’re from the Global South, just because they’re racialized, doesn’t mean they should be facing a certain differential and very racist set of exclusions.” 

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Medellín, Colombia – Hundreds of Mexican human rights groups presented an open letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Monday calling for action to combat forced disappearances.

The letter was signed by over 100 collectives representing disappeared people from Mexico and Central America, over 300 families of the missing, and various civil society organizations, shelters, and individuals. 

According to the NGO Foundation for Justice and the Democratic Rule of Law (FJEDD), one of the signatories of the open letter, over 132,000 people are classed as missing in Mexico. 

“Mexico requires independent mechanisms to establish the truth, locate the disappeared, conduct serious investigations and combat impunity, under the auspices of the United Nations,” said the FJEDD following their meeting with Türk.

They also called on the High Commissioner to raise the issue in his meeting with president Claudia Sheinbaum, and to urge the Mexican state to help affected families “achieve truth, justice, and reparations.”

The letter also requested that Türk back the recent decision by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) to refer the crisis to the General Assembly, the organization’s highest authority. 

When taking the “exceptional step” on April 2 to request that the situation be referred to the General Assembly, the CED also said that the 72,000 unidentified human remains found in 4,500 covert graves suggested the crisis could likely amount to crimes against humanity, something Mexico has since roundly rejected. 

President of the CED, Juan Albán-Alencastro, said that “the magnitude, the pattern of the attacks and the fact that they are directed against the civilian population,” substantiated the view that the crisis meets the definition of crimes against humanity. 

Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs repudiated the decision in a press release that argued that the UN had failed to recognize recent advances against the issue. President Sheinbaum also dismissed the CED’s claims, arguing that the data used was extrapolated and didn’t represent Mexico’s current situation. 

In anticipation of her meeting with Türk this Wednesday, Sheinbaum also said that the official had come “to learn about the human rights system in Mexico, not just the issue of disappearances.”

Featured image: Maritza Ríos / Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México.

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But Australian government will expand offences covered by rules to include promotion of communal violence and attacks on defence system

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Labor has quietly backed down on moves to make spy agency Asio’s powers for compulsory questioning permanent, but will expand offences covered by the rules to include promotion of communal violence and attacks on Australia’s defence system.

The laws were introduced in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US and give intelligence operatives powers to issue a questioning warrant requiring a person as young as 14 to give information or produce items that may assist in a serious investigation.

Maayan Ziv

Creator of the AccessNow app, as well as a photographer and entrepreneur, Maayan Ziv (she/her) is raising awareness for accessibility issues and standing up for the rights of disabled individuals. AccessNow was created in 2015 as a way for anyone to check the accessibility of any location, building, or restaurant. It was designed to empower people with disabilities and ensure their safety when visiting new places. From her interview with the Urban Land Toronto Institute, Ziv shares that the biggest challenge in the industry is this: “It is essential to recognize that accessibility is not just a compliance issue but a transformative design approach that fosters inclusion for individuals of all abilities.”

Taylor Lindsey-Noel (@accessbytay)

Based in Toronto, Taylor Lindsey-Noel is a distinguished disability rights advocate, motivational speaker, and TikTok influencer. With over 150k followers on the video-sharing app, she creates content about accessibility during travel, disabled lifestyle, and her own tea brand–Cup of Té. This luxury loose-leaf tea brand was recognized on the list of Oprah’s Favourite Things, twice! Lindsey-Noel is a former gymnast. Despite the training accident that caused her disability, the renowned advocate is someone “…who believes inclusion should be a lived experience, not an afterthought.” Recently, she visited the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Foundation to share her lived experience and celebrate the upcoming National Accessibility Week (May 31 – June 6). 

Sarah Jama

Serving as a member of Provincial Parliament for Hamilton Centre from 2023 to 2025, Sarah Jama has been an active speaker for accessibility, disabled rights, the unhoused, and the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflicts. Jama was born with cerebral palsy, a lifelong neurological disorder that affects movement, posture, and muscle tone. She is a proud wheelchair and walker user to aid in her mobility. Jama also co-founded the Disability Justice Network Ontario in September 2018, and co-founded the Hamilton Encampment Support Network in 2021, which was spearheaded to create affordable housing access.

Allison Lang

Allison Lang is a Paralympian, sitting volleyball player, model, and accessibility advocate/speaker. Born missing the lower half of her left leg, Lang has never let her disability stand in the way of doing whatever she puts her mind to. In addition to her Paralympian journey, Lang is a digital marketer and content creator, posting short-form lifestyle and disability content to her Instagram (@allisonelang, 25.7k followers). Lang also recently appeared on a pre-K educational television program, June, How We Do It. The series is scheduled for release on June 22nd. Lang shared her excitement on Instagram: “To now be part of a show where kids of all abilities get to see themselves, feel included, and learn about accessibility, friendship, big feelings, and trying new things… it means everything!”

Paige Layle

Paige Layle is a pro-ADHD and disability speaker, influencer, and content creator detailing what it’s like to be someone who lives with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism. In 2020,  she began creating content on multiple platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. At just 24 years old, Layle has become a published author. Layle released her book, The Mental Alchemy Workbook, as a way to share the methods she used to navigate anxiety and depression. Layle is equally candid about her experiences with autism. As she shared in her biography, But Everyone Feels this Way, “an autism diagnosis saved (her) life.”

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Amazon and Sony among firms that may have sourced coltan, used in phones, from supply chains controlled by the M23 rebels, says Global Witness

Leading global brands including Amazon, Ericsson and Sony are “likely” to have sourced minerals linked to a militia accused of widespread sexual violence, summary executions and torture, a new investigation claims.

The companies allegedly, but unknowingly, acquired coltan smuggled from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that are occupied by the M23 militia, which has committed myriad atrocities in eastern DRC.

Draft treaty claims sexual and reproductive health and rights are an existential threat to the African family

An African treaty that rejects longstanding international human rights obligations moved a step closer to becoming policy this week as governments across the continent met in Ghana.

The draft African charter on family, sovereignty and values, seen by the Guardian, asserts that African values and culture are under attack from “foreign ideologies” and urges states to withdraw from any agreements that do not align with the principles of the charter, including the 2003 Maputo protocol, which promotes gender equality and protects the reproductive and health rights of women and girls.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited the Guantanamo Bay military base, which is located on Cuba’s southeastern coast, yesterday. 

Hegseth, who holds the secondary title of Secretary of War, met with U.S. troops stationed at the base and, while there, warned Cuba against acquiring military arms that could threaten either the naval facility or the U.S. mainland. 

Hegseth’s visit to the territory, which Cuba has long demanded that Washington return, is likely to be provocative, especially since the U.S. official called Cuba a national security threat as recently as May.  

Havana and Washington have been at loggerheads for months, as the White House has steadily ramped up political pressure on the island since its operation to capture former Venezuelan President and longtime Cuban ally Nicolás Maduro in January. 

Recently, Cuba’s political leadership in particular has been subject to increasingly punitive measures by the Trump administration. 

Last week, the U.S. announced sanctions against various prominent Cuban political figures, including Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the son and grandson of former President and revolutionary leader Raúl Castro.

U.S. authorities also indicted the aging Castro in late May because of his alleged role in the downing of two humanitarian planes in 1996. 

In response to the indictment and the sanctions, Cuba’s top diplomat in the United States – Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera – accused the North American superpower of creating a “pretext” for a military intervention on the island.   

The Guantanamo Bay naval base, which was leased to the U.S. as part of a treaty between the two countries in 1903, would likely become a key battleground if the U.S. decided on such military intervention in Cuba. 

Hegseth’s warnings to the Cuban government about the dangers of attacking the base are likely a response to an Axios report last month which revealed that the Cuban military had acquired over 300 drones and was considering using them to attack Guantanamo, U.S. military vessels and potentially even Key West in Florida.

Jonathan Hansen, a historian and Senior Lecturer on Social Studies at Harvard University who has written extensively about Guantanamo Bay and its history, spoke to Latin America Reports about both the importance of Hegseth’s visit to the military base and the installation’s wider relevance in current and historic U.S.-Cuba relations. 

“Hegseth’s trip to the U.S. naval base was meant to keep Cuba guessing and on high alert … [and] see how useful the base might be – and how vulnerable it would be – should the U.S. and Cuba go to war,” Hansen argued. 

Guantanamo “would be very vulnerable, even given the degraded state of Cuba’s military these last thirty-odd years since the end of the Cold War. The base is surrounded by Cuban highground, and one can imagine Cuban drones having a field day attacking the base from the air,” the historian continued.

According to Hansen, this weakness, combined with the comparative greater proximity of U.S. Southern Command in Florida to important Cuban targets such as Havana, the high economic and logistical cost of supplying a base entirely on Cuban soil, and the absence of fighter jets on Guantanamo, makes the base strategically insignificant to the U.S. 

Instead, the Harvard Lecturer pointed out, the base draws importance from its symbolic value. 

The base is “useful symbolically to Trump and Rubio to remind Cuba that we’re not far away … Trump and Hegseth like Guantanamo because they like its reputation for toughness.”

Such a reputation stems largely from the base’s post-9/11 transformation into a detention centre for terror suspects. Prominent human rights organizations report that those suspects faced inhumane treatment and torture at the base. 

Hansen also expressed hope that the reassertion of Cuban sovereignty over Guantanamo would form a part of an eventual negotiated settlement between the U.S. and Cuba, who remain engaged in negotiations despite rising tensions. 

“One day, Guantanamo should be returned to Cuba. Justice and fairness and the principle of national sovereignty demand it. Cubans are as fractious a people as any. But as a good [Cuban] friend … said to me: “No matter how divided Cubans are, we agree about one thing: Guantanamo must return to Cuba.”

“That, along with an end to the embargo, would be the culmination of Cuban independence – one hundred and twenty-eight years overdue,” Hansen concluded.  

Featured Image: The Guantanamo Bay base.  

Image Credit: RUSMCUSA via Wikimedia Commons

License: Creative Commons Licenses

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