As Colombians prepare to cast their votes on Sunday, one figure towers over the campaign trail like a force of nature: Abelardo de la Espriella, the combative lawyer and businessman known throughout his nation as “El Tigre.” Surging in the final polls to within striking distance of the leftist frontrunner, the outsider candidate is drawing massive crowds […] The post Colombia’s Populist Moment: Why ‘El Tigre’ Is the Candidate Feared by the Establishment appeared first on StoneZone .
As Colombians prepare to cast their votes on Sunday, one figure towers over the campaign trail like a force of nature: Abelardo de la Espriella, the combative lawyer and businessman known throughout his nation as “El Tigre.” Surging in the final polls to within striking distance of the leftist frontrunner, the outsider candidate is drawing massive crowds that roar his slogan “¡Firme por la patria!” while men in tiger costumes chant and fireworks explode behind bulletproof glass. He is the candidate the left and the entrenched conservatives fear most because he refuses to play by the rules of the political establishment. A self-funded movement leader who skipped the old party primaries, de la Espriella offers something rarer in…Open
Nicolás Maduro may be gone, but turning Caracas into a stable partner remains challenging. The post Narcoterrorists Challenge Venezuela’s Government and America’s Miners appeared first on The American Conservative .
Latin America Narcoterrorists Challenge Venezuela’s Government and America’s Miners Nicolás Maduro may be gone, but turning Caracas into a stable partner remains challenging. Last month, Venezuela’s newly cooperative government passed a law ending the country’s exclusive control over its mineral resources, throwing open the doors to foreign investment (especially American investment). The law is intended to jump-start Venezuela’s long-stagnant economy—and, no doubt, assist Delcy Rodriguez in her effort to prove herself a useful partner to the Trump administration by providing the United States with access to Venezuela’s…Open
But an attendee told The Grayzone that oil industry heavyweights were less excited about Trump’s Venezuela policy, complaining in private about the President's push to reopen the country.
By Max Blumenthal When the American Petroleum Institute (API) gathered oil industry leaders and lobbyists for a “State of American Energy” summit on January 16, 2026, the geopolitical landscape seemed to be shifting dramatically in their favor. However, an attendee of the resource extraction cartel’s most important annual lobbying conference told The Grayzone that participants privately grumbled about President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed attempts to steer their agenda, particularly in Venezuela, where he has demanded they immediately restart operations. Two weeks before the API summit, the US military kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a violent raid, enabling the Trump administration to commandeer the country’s…Open