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May 25, 2026

‘Hondurasgate’ leaks reveal Israeli destabilization scheme

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

https://countervortex.org/blog/hondurasgate-leaks-reveal-israeli-destabilization-scheme/

US charges Raúl Castro in 1996 plane shoot-down

US federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five former Cuban military pilots in the 1996 shoot-down of two civilian planes flown by the Miami exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an attack that killed four people. An investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization found that the planes were shot down over international waters, although this was disputed by Cuba. Castro, 94, headed Cuba’s armed forces at the time, and later served as the island’s president. Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the charges “a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation.”

https://countervortex.org/blog/us-charges-raul-castro-in-1996-plane-shoot-down/

Identifying victims of the US boat strikes

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

https://countervortex.org/blog/identifying-victims-of-the-us-boat-strikes/

Colombia: growing toll from armed conflict

In its latest annual report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) found that the armed conflict in Colombia saw the “worst humanitarian consequences” of the past decade in 2025. The number of people killed or injured by explosive devices rose by 34% to 965, overwhelmingly non-combatants. The number of individual disappearances doubled to 308. Violations of international humanitarian law documented by the ICRC reached 845 cases, while figures for displacement and “confinement” doubled. According to the Comprehensive Victim Support & Reparation Unit (UARIV), at least 235,619 people were displaced individually in 2025, while 87,069 were displaced in mass displacement events, and 176,730 remained “confined” in communities under siege by armed actors.

https://countervortex.org/blog/colombia-growing-toll-from-armed-conflict/

Trump again intervenes in crisis-torn Nigeria

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

https://countervortex.org/blog/trump-again-intervenes-in-crisis-torn-nigeria/

Sudan: RSF commander named in war crimes

Amnesty International demanded the removal of a commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), citing war crime allegations against him. Al-Fatih Abdallah Idris AKA “Abu Lulu” was arrested by the RSF in October 2025 following global outrage from a viral video appearing to show him executing unarmed civilians during the taking of the Darfur city of El Fasher. Following a Reuters investigation, multiple sources confirmed that Abu Lulu has been released from detention and is back on the battlefield.

https://countervortex.org/blog/sudan-rsf-commander-named-in-war-crimes/

Audio:

MAGA-fascism and anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism III

The Justice Department “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism” has announced a national propaganda tour—as the DoJ is explicitly targeting anti-fascists for prosecution. The tour also comes as the question of Israel has emerged as the critical issue in the split within MAGA—with elements of the breakaway populist wing virtually gloating that the Israel Lobby’s support for the Trump-loyal pro-war wing will result in a backlash against Jews. Both wings of MAGA are equally reactionary, yet elements of the supposed “left” are already in a dangerous flirtation with the populist wing—and it is a Democratic congressional hopeful, Maureen Galindo of Texas, who is openly calling for mass detention of “Zionists” in repurposed ICE camps. An incipient Red-Brown alliance can be seen, fueled by the Trump regime’s ultra-cynical anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism. In Episode 330 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes an unsparing look.

https://countervortex.org/blog/maga-fascism-and-anti-semitic-pseudo-anti-anti-semitism-iii/

From Global Ganja Report:

Virginia governor vetoes retail cannabis bills

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a pair of bills that would have created a retail marketplace for legal marijuana in the state, saying the proposed legislation was premature and could not be “successfully implemented” without “unintended consequences that harm Virginians.”

https://globalganjareport.com/node/2002

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