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Hello Reader,
A teenager with a Glock strikes down a champion of freedom, 31 Chinese workers share a toilet, and 20,000 Nepalese march for their abolished king—this week reveals how freedom collapses when institutions fail, as America squanders another opportunity to lead.
The Global Fight Against Tyranny
- Colombia's Democracy Lies Bleeding
- Trump's Bromantic Interest Tightens Grip
- Brazil Awakens to China's Tyranny
- Iran's Desperate Mullahs Forced to Liberate
- Nepalese March Backward to Monarchy
Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House.
Gunshots shattered a Bogota rally Saturday as presidential candidate Miguel Uribe collapsed bleeding—shot twice in the head by a 15-year-old assassin. The center-right senator fights for his life as Colombia's democratic foundations crumble.
The real tragedy runs deeper. President Gustavo Petro's "Total Peace" initiative has backfired, with security forces held back as the rebel groups who have terrorized Colombia for decades expand their influence. A recent truce even allows recruitment of 15-year-olds, enabling a dramatic surge in child abductions into violent gangs.
Meanwhile, Petro's democratic backsliding accelerates. The country's first elected leftist president and former M-19 guerrilla member recently declared emergency powers while floating a "constituent assembly" to bypass judicial oversight. His son Nicolás previously admitted accepting $386,000 from drug traffickers for his presidential campaign.
By contrast, Uribe’s platform champions security, economic liberalism, and rule of law. The grandson of former president Julio César Turbay, Uribe's journalist mother Diana was murdered by Pablo Escobar's cartel. Yet he announced his candidacy where she died with words of forgiveness, not revenge. Was he a threat to their power?
Was the gunman's age mere coincidence, or the chilling consequence of policies that coddle armed groups while gutting state authority? As a champion of freedom fights for his life, Colombia faces its darkest hour.
Prominent anti-corruption lawyer Ruth Eleonora López—one of BBC's 100 most influential women—who documented government spying and exposed state abuses, has vanished into El Salvador's prison system without legal access or family notification.
Since I last reported on El Salvador nearly two months ago, Nayib Bukele's repression has reached stunning new heights. When peaceful farmers protested land evictions near Bukele's residence, his military police crushed the demonstration. Days later, Congress passed his long-planned "foreign agents law"—a favorite of tyrants worldwide—imposing crushing 30% taxes on NGOs. His own human rights commissioner quickly resigned in apparent protest.
Bukele has achieved a remarkable reduction in crime—homicides have plummeted to historic lows. Yet El Salvador now imprisons 1.6% of its population, the world's highest incarceration rate—more than double Cuba's police state. Most detentions occurred without due process, with 90% still awaiting trial.
Most egregiously, Justice Department indictments reveal Bukele's secret pacts with MS-13, providing gang leaders with "financial benefits" while they agreed to hide murder victims and mobilize electoral support. And as Trump cozies up, Bukele courts Beijing—China gifted him a national library and is building a 50,000-seat stadium after he severed ties with Taiwan.
America’s continued embrace of this brutal dictator epitomizes its moral collapse under Trump.
Last week marked a potential turning point in Latin America's relationship with China as Brazilian prosecutors filed charges against EV giant BYD over "slavery-like conditions" at its factory construction site in Camacari. The $46 million lawsuit stems from December's shocking discovery of 163 Chinese workers sleeping without mattresses in overcrowded quarters while to 70% of their wages were withheld. One toilet was reportedly shared by 31 workers.
This legal action emerges as China has achieved stunning dominance across Latin America. China surpassed the U.S. as Latin America’s top trading partner in 2020, and Beijing's $150 billion Belt and Road Initiative has enrolled nearly two-thirds of the region.
Yet cracks are appearing in China's regional hegemony. Panama became the first Latin American country to withdraw from Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative in February. Guatemala has reaffirmed ties with Taiwan. Protests against Chinese mining operations continue plaguing Ecuador.
Meanwhile, Trump's administration has drastically slashed foreign aid in the region, imposed tariffs on key allies, and embraced authoritarian leaders like Bukele. As Latin America awakens to the cost of doing business with an authoritarian regime, Trump offers no viable alternative—squandering a historic opportunity to counter Chinese influence.
Last week, I reported on Iran's acceleration of political executions. But this week brought surprising news from The Economist: Iran may be liberating—if only out of desperation.
In a shocking reversal, Supreme Leader Khamenei now approves talks with America while purging hardliners for moderates. At Tehran University, students no longer trample American flags. Police who once beat women for removing hijabs now disperse protesters who demand stricter enforcement.
Iran's economic collapse forced this capitulation. GDP is set to plummet 15% this year, with the rial losing over 75% of its value before recent hopes sparked a rebound. Blackouts plague Tehran while officials who championed the "resistance economy" now desperately seek foreign investment. And Khamenei selected moderate Masoud Pezeshkian as president despite his public calls for friendship with America.
But Israel's methodical demolition of Iran's "axis of resistance" hastened this reversal. October’s strikes destroyed missile facilities and air defenses as Israel systematically dismantled Iran's proxy network. Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated. Yahya Sinwar was killed. Assad's regime collapsed.
Israel has given Trump a masterclass in what 'Peace through Strength' actually looks like in practice. By dismantling Iran's terror network—separate from Gaza—Israel created conditions forcing Iran's desperation and its people’s liberation, however limited.
In the sweltering heat of Kathmandu on May 29, over 20,000 protesters marched through the streets chanting "Our king is dearer than lives… king come back and save the country." The crowd waved flags and chanted royal slogans as they surged past riot police, driven by raw desperation.
Seventeen years after abolishing its 239-year-old monarchy after bloody street protests, Nepal's democracy is faltering. The nation has churned through 14 governments in the last 16 years. The 2015 constitution promised federalism, but power remains tightly held in Kathmandu. Local governments starve for funding and authority—even basic services like road repair are dictated from the capital. When floods devastated western districts last year, desperate villagers waited weeks for central bureaucrats to approve emergency aid.
Economically, Nepal remains shackled. Agriculture employs over 60% of the population, yet farmers struggle without irrigation, market access, or mechanization—needs that only empowered local governments could address. Private investment flees from legal uncertainty and political chaos.
It's a haunting reminder that when democratic institutions lack strength and structure, nostalgia conquers reason, driving people to seek refuge in the very chains they once shattered.
Our American Democracy
Unanimous Court Crushes Double Standards
Marlean Ames worked twenty years at Ohio's Department of Youth Services, climbing from secretary to administrator. In 2019, she applied for bureau chief but watched the position go to a lesbian colleague. Her supervisor then demoted her, giving her job to a 25-year-old gay man. I don't know whether Ames' claims have merit, but that's not the point. When Ames sued for discrimination, federal courts dismissed her case—not for lacking evidence, but for being straight.
The Sixth Circuit required "background circumstances" proving her employer was "unusual" for discriminating against heterosexuals. This discriminatory standard applied only to majority group members, creating two-tiered justice.
Thursday's unanimous Supreme Court decisions demolished these barriers. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that Congress "left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone." Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled Wisconsin violated the Constitution by denying Catholic Charities the unemployment tax exemption other religious organizations receive, simply because they serve all faiths.
These victories affirm liberty means equal justice under law—not separate standards based on identity politics. When courts abandon neutrality for social engineering, they betray their constitutional duty.
The BBB's Hidden Debt Bomb
Republicans are about to accelerate America’s rush to insolvency under the guise of border security. This week, a Cato Institute analysis revealed Trump's mass deportation scheme could cost America over $1.4 trillion in the next decade—an "absolute explosion of cash unparalleled in American history."
The House "Big Beautiful Bill" allocates $168 billion just for immigration enforcement agencies. But that's merely the down payment on this fiscal nightmare. The plan demands removing one million immigrants annually while housing 100,000 in detention centers—requiring 10,000 new ICE officers at astronomical costs.
David Bier, Cato's immigration expert, warns this spending spree makes a mockery of conservative fiscal principles. While Republicans try to avoid necessary reforms to entitlement programs, they're hemorrhaging cash on a deportation machine requiring new federal debt to finance.
The human cost amplifies the economic catastrophe. Undocumented immigrants contributed $46.8 billion in federal taxes in 2022 alone—revenue streams that vanish with deportations. Meanwhile, 5.1 million American citizen children face family separation.
This isn't border security—it's fiscal recklessness wrapped in nationalist rhetoric. Republicans are mortgaging America's future to fund their deportation obsession.
Hegseth Emerges as Freedom's Unlikely Champion
Pete Hegseth's amateur hour began with classified military details spilling across Signal group chats—including operational timing shared with his wife and brother hours before Yemen strikes. His domestic culture wars and security breaches exemplified Trump's preference for bombast and loyalty over competence.
Yet despite his history of Trump deference, Hegseth emerged from Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue this week as an unlikely champion of abandoned American values. He declared Chinese attacks on Taiwan "could be imminent" and warned Beijing: "We will not be pushed out of this critical region." His bold stance directly contradicts Pentagon Under Secretary Elbridge Colby, who recently dismissed China's Taiwan aggression as "not an existential threat" to America, and Trump's ambivalence toward this island of democracy.
Hegseth similarly defied expectations on NATO, affirming America's commitment to the alliance—a striking contrast to Rubio's retreat from his own democracy-promotion legacy.
Trump's choice of an inexperienced Fox News host to run the Pentagon was misguided, but sometimes freedom's champions emerge from unexpected quarters. The open question remains whether Trump will embrace these muscular positions or disown his Defense Secretary when dealmaking with autocrats takes precedence.
Trump Pressures Senate on Russian Sanctions
Behind closed doors, the Trump administration is waging a calculated assault on the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025—a bipartisan rebellion with 82 Senate co-sponsors demanding "bone-crushing" sanctions against Putin's war machine. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that White House officials are quietly pressuring Senator Lindsey Graham and co-sponsor Richard Blumenthal to gut their legislation by transforming mandatory "shall" language into discretionary "may" provisions, effectively rendering Graham's bill toothless.
Trump's strategy runs counter to his own "peace through strength" initiative, yet he insists sanctions must be "guided by me. That's how it's supposed to be," calling the congressional measure a "harsh bill." The administration seeks waivers allowing presidential discretion over who gets sanctioned—neutering the legislation's automatic triggers.
Senators justify their constitutional authority by portraying Putin as "stringing President Trump along," with Senator Joni Ernst declaring "Nobody likes to see somebody try to play the president." Their defiance stems from Congress's power over foreign commerce and their constitutional duty to check executive overreach in wartime.
The White House counters that the Constitution "vests the president with the authority to conduct diplomacy with foreign nations"—and unfortunately, that argument holds legal water.
Harvard Study Shows Freedom Still Works
Technological strength brings more than cool gadgets—it delivers the economic growth that lifts people from poverty and reduces human suffering. To that end, Harvard's release of its technological competitiveness index this week was cause for American celebration.
The U.S. still dominates the global tech rankings across five critical sectors. We command AI leadership through OpenAI and Nvidia's innovations, maintain superiority in semiconductor design, and lead biotechnology through breakthrough vaccine research and genetic engineering.
Yet China is closing the gap with its systemic advantages: disregard for data privacy, coordinated state investment, IP theft, and a vast pool of highly educated talent. Their DeepSeek models rival Western capabilities at lower costs. They're gaining ground in biotech research and already lead drug production manufacturing.
The Trump administration risks undermining our position by deterring foreign talent and cutting research funding—some of the very innovations that sustained our technological dominance.
But America's lead reflects the power of free markets, academic freedom, and entrepreneurial spirit. While authoritarian coordination achieves rapid gains, sustainable innovation thrives where brilliant minds gather voluntarily. The Harvard index proves a foundational truth: freedom works.
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