Prosecutor Investigating US Attacks on Ecuadorian Boats Assassinated Under Suspicious Circumstances
Alexandra Bravo, the Ecuadorian prosecutor assigned to investigate the US attacks against three fisherman boats off the coast of the South American country, was killed last month by a hitman in broad daylight in the city of Manta, Ecuador. It is clear that the US was behind the strikes on the boats, as is the case with similar attacks on fisherman boats off the coast of Colombia earlier this year; the US has claimed responsibility for those murders, labeling the Colombian fisherman “narco-terrorists,” though the information uncovered proves otherwise.
Bravo’s assassination also took place under suspicious circumstances—a security detail was supposed to escort the prosecutor during the time of her investigation, but they were nowhere to be found when she was gunned down; Bravo had been uncovering information that corroborated accounts shared by the 36 survivors of the boat attacks of kidnapping and torture at the hands of US military personnel on US flagged ships; the nation’s Attorney General’s office was discouraging Bravo’s probing into the elements of torture within the case, later taking her off of the case entirely.
According to Fernando Bastias, an attorney with Ecuador’s Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDH) and member of the World Organization Against Torture, while he can’t formally confirm the murder of Bravo was a political assassination, he says “evidently, when a prosecutor is killed it’s because of the investigation they’re conducting… That’s something we’ve learned from our experience in Ecuador.”
Ecuador is under the right-wing leadership of President Noboa, who maintains a positive relationship with the US government. Noboa has enacted 22 martial decrees, which grant diplomatic immunity to the US military and Department of Defense.
International Business Times UK shared that one day prior to Bravo’s assassination, three US representatives, Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Bill Keating (D-MA) published a letter directed at Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, and Kevin Lunday, head of the US coast guard, “demanding a full audit of US government involvement in the attacks [on the Ecuadorian ships].” The request, with a deadline of July 10, has been met with radio silence from governmental agencies. Pete Hegseth was also questioned by Representative Keating about the Negra Francisca bombing during a congressional hearing, which Drop Site News published photo evidence of, aptly deeming the murderous action carried out by the US military as a war crime.
Operation Southern Spear, the name of the bombing campaign being carried out to “target narco-traffickers” has killed 221 people thus far. The 36 survivors of the boat strike off the coast of Ecuador were released with “severe injuries, including 70% vision loss and feet torn to flesh and bone.”
Sources:
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/prosecutor-investigating-ecuador-boat-strikes-murdered
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ecuadorian-prosecutor-murder-us-drone-strikes-1810992
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/ecuador-left-us-linked-prosecutor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFKEMaAjjP4
Cocktoach Janta Party Wins Against Indian Government Suppression
India’s growing student protest movement united under the name, Cockroach Janta Party (after the current ruling Bharatiya Janata Party), successfully pressured the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, into resignation.
A disastrous exam leak happened under Pradhan, requiring retakes for millions of people. It came as a massive loss of time, opportunity, and money for many, and 21 students committed suicide over the news.
The Cockroach Janta Party organized protests over the poor handling of the leak, the suicides it prompted, and the government’s consistent dismissal of young people’s political concerns. Law enforcement attacked demonstrators brutally. They used batons and tear gas against crowds and arrested many demonstrators in an attempt to quell the movement which had been gaining steam over the ongoing months. The CJP remained firm in their demands for Pradhan’s resignation throughout government suppression.
After negotiations with the Indian government, they conceded to almost all the CJP’s demands including financial compensation to the families of the exam’s suicide victims, withdrawal of police cases against protesters, and future discussion of a five-point charter on exam and education overhauls.
Sources:
Venezuela Withdraws from International Criminal Court
On Friday, Venezuela notified the International Criminal Court (ICC) of its intent to withdraw from the body. This has come to head under the new leadership of President Delcy Rodriguez, who has become very closely allied with the Trump administration since the US abduction of Maduro in early 2026.
This comes following Venezuela’s repeal of the law that ratified the ICC Rome Statue in December of 2025, notably prior to Maduro’s abduction. While the Rome Statue was created to confirm cooperation with probes into serious international crimes, the president of Venezuela’s ruling assembly at the time accused the court of acting “in the interests of North American Imperialism.” This reasoning is echoed in Delcy’s most recent statements on the withdrawal, with her claiming that Global South countries are unfairly punished.
Despite whatever reasoning Venezuelan officials espouse, this decision is being celebrated in the US halls of power. The State Department released a Media Note shortly after the withdrawal welcoming the decision and calling on all ICC member countries to repeal the Rome Statue.
Whether the ICC was truly unfairly punishing Maduro’s government or not, it’s clear that whatever actions being taken at this point by Delcy’s government are starkly in line with the needs of US imperialism and could give the now puppet state the room it needs to more fully implement the US empire’s needs to the detriment of the Venezuelan People.
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-notifies-un-withdrawal-icc-2026-07-24/
https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/07/venezuela-withdraws-from-the-icc/
The End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act Introduced to House of Representatives
Legislators in the House of Representatives are attempting to remove birthright citizenship in the US territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. While the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the constitution’s 14th amendment guaranteeing birthright citizenship in the Trump v. Barbara case, the decision only covered those in mainland US, leaving an opening to target those in the territories more specifically. If The End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act goes into effect, anyone born in these territories after 2026 to non-US citizens and non-US residents would no longer be US citizens. Professor Efrén Rivera Ramos warned that the vague language in the bill could be interpreted to also remove citizenship for children born of US citizens. American Samoa is the only US territory not affected by this act because they are already not classified as citizens and are regarded as nationals.
Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA), who introduced the act, claims that he is aiming to address “birth tourism” and “loopholes” that “take advantage of US generosity”. These absurd reactionary claims are only supported by racist motivations to strip away rights and create more opportunities increase deportation cases. As a part of the US imperialist strategy, the US refuses to return sovereignty to the territories under their control, often restricting the movement, economic opportunities, and essentials needed to survive (clean water, electricity, housing, food), and yet they claim that the people of these territories are the exploitative ones. They do not have the right to vote in presidential general elections and do not have voting representation in Congress but are controlled by Congress and the President. And in the case of Puerto Rico, their debts and finances are controlled by a US-appointed board through the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Professor Ramos remarked that “if the bill is passed, the effect would be to create a very special underclass of people living in Puerto Rico who will lose many of its rights”.
The legal precedents used as the foundation for this act are called the Insular Cases, which determined that constitutional rights do not fully apply to people in US territories and gave Congress the ability to determine which constitutional rights do apply. In opposition to this act, Representative Stacey Plaskett (D-USVI) referred to the Insular cases as “a body of law built on openly racist reasoning which the [U.S. Department of Justice] previously renounced.” She continued, “[The End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act] is divisive, it is racist in its foundation, and it is corrosive of the principles of American law.”
Sources:
https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-want-end-birthright-citizenship-us-territories-12216785
https://puertoricoreport.com/new-bill-would-limit-birthright-citizenship-in-puerto-rico/
https://www.democracynow.org/2026/7/24/puerto_rico_promesa_birthright_citizenship
Behind Enemy Lines 