COMMENTARY A new Cuba poll should make the U.S. — especially U.S. Cubans — realize that without any democratic past to refer to, Cubans will prioritize economic improvement over political change.

Five people assumed to be living abroad were charged in the plot, according to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court. It said a network of the Russian intelligence services has paid and tried to pay individuals in the United States and in other countries since 2024 to surveil and then kill Russian dissidents.

At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed worldwide in 2025, with Latin America accounting for 85% of the deaths. That's according to a new Global Witness report. Colombia remained the deadliest country for the fourth consecutive year, while killings more than doubled in Brazil. Indigenous people and small-scale farmers were particularly at risk as armed groups, illicit economies and disputes over land and natural resources put pressure on communities defending their territories.

Alex Saab was deported to the U.S. in May and pleaded guilty to money laundering on Tuesday. He was charged in 2019 and arrested in Cape Verde during a refueling stop.

Brazil’s Supreme Court is in the throes of an unprecedented crisis. Sessions are being canceled. Justices are overruling each other’s decisions. And suspicions of graft, political bias and police interference loom over several of its members ahead of the country’s October presidential election.

El Niño is here, and forecasters warn that it’s likely to be bigger and stronger in 2026-27 than any El Niño event recorded in at least 150 years. I am a biologist who has been monitoring the weather in Panama and surrounding regions for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for almost 40 years, and what I am seeing in 2026 in terms of heat and drought has already begun to exceed anything that we have measured here in over a century.

Liexer De La Cruz had spent five years building a life in the United States after crossing almost a dozen countries by car, foot, bus and boat. But in early January, while attending what he thought was a routine hearing on his immigration case, he was forced to choose between deporting himself or staying in the U.S. and risk deportation at any moment. He chose Cuba.

Alex Saab, a close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a federal case. He is accused of bribing officials to win contracts to import food during widespread hardship in Venezuela. Saab was deported in May by Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez under U.S. pressure.

Liexer De La Cruz had spent five years building a life in the United States after crossing almost a dozen countries by car, foot, bus and boat. But in early January, he was forced to choose between deporting himself or staying in the U.S. and risk deportation at any moment. He chose Cuba.

The opposition oversight, imposed by the first Trump administration, was meant to help weaken Venezuela’s repressive socialist dictatorship. “The Trump administration will now own Citgo,” a Venezuela expert said. It's another sign President Trump is more interested in drilling Venezuela’s oil than in restoring its democracy.