Colombian election results
On Sunday 21 June, the run-off was held in the Colombian general elections resulting in a narrow win for far-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella. The campaign was notable for its lack of dialogue between Espriella and his left-wing opponent, Ivan Cepeda, while both the US ambassador to Colombia and Donald Trump overtly voiced support for Espriella. Perhaps more concerningly the outgoing Columbian president Gustav Petrol has accused Israel of interfering in the voting process. In a comprehensive overview of the election for the Guardian, Tiago Rogero looks at the controversial nature of the elections and the state of play in terms of political alignments across South America as a whole.
Europe rearms
In March 2025, European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyden proposed a strategic defence initiative, Readiness 2030. The initiative envisages expenditure of up to €800bn over five years to meet perceived regional threats and comes at a time when US military support for Europe is uncertain. Peter Martens, leader of the Belgian Workers Party, writing in the Jacobin to advertise the 14 June Welfare not Warfare demonstration in Brussels, argues that the prioritisation of military spending is at the expense of decent pensions, affordable education, strong health care and reliable public services.
EU passes ICE-like immigration law
The excesses of the US Immigration and Enforcement Agency (ICE) have been highlighted by The Left Lane’s the international digest previously. A total of eight US citizens have died as a result of their dealings with ICE agents. The response of the European Commission to the issue of irregular migration has gradually evolved, resulting in the EU asylum and migration pact officially coming into force on 12 June 2026. The legislation has been described as “ICE-like.” In an article for the Guardian, Jennifer Rankin summarises the main provisions of the regulations and assesses its similarity to US legislation.
Peruvian elections
The results of recent elections in Columbia and Peru hang in the balance. In Peru, there are around 5,000 votes between the right-wing candidate, Keiko Fujimori, leader of Fuerza Popular and daughter of the former dictator Alberto Fujimori, and the centre-left candidate Roberto Sanchez of Together for Peru. As events in Venezuela and Cuba have shown, the Trump administration has ramped up the United States historical interference in what it considers its Latin American ‘backyard’. In a comprehensive account for World Socialist Website, Francis Portocarrero relates how the US is trying to subvert the Peruvian election result to align with its wider foreign policy aims.
Zamleh report details Meta suppression of Palestinian digital content
Various commentators have highlighted selective and biased reporting of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict across the news media spectrum. A notable example would be the BBC. Additionally, online social media platforms have become a narrative battleground, with TikTok for example being taken over by the Israel/ Zionist lobby due to its perceived anti-Israel bias. Zamleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, is a non-profit organization that advocates for Palestinian digital rights. In an article for Mondiweiss, Michael Aria reviews how the organisation has challenged Meta to review its Facebook content policy, citing apparently random suppression of Palestinian-related content.
Rifts in Iranian diaspora
It has been clear for some time that within the UK’s Iranian diaspora there is a sharp rift between those who support the government that came to power after the 1979 revolution and what might be termed monarchists, who support the Pahlavi regime in the form of the son of the last Shah, Raza Pahlavi. The animosity particularly from the monarchist side was demonstrated by the stabbing last April of an Iranian government supporter, during a protest outside Downing Street. In an account for the New Arab, Sofia Aboudani relates how the conflict between the opposing groups has continued during the World Cup.
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