Claims that Nicaragua has abolished elections followed a headline that stripped Daniel Ortega’s remarks of their historical and political context. The full speech tells a different story, says BECCA RENK FOSTER

LEO BOIX reviews two powerful Latin American novels in which myth and crime fiction expose the deadly consequences of patriarchy, clandestine abortion and state violence

England survived a thrilling Azteca encounter, but the stadium and its supporters created one of the tournament’s defining nights, writes JAMES NALTON

ENRIQUE SANTIAGO ROMERO says the Colombian far-right’s election victory is deeply suspect — and the United States has its fingerprints all over it
 

Once a source of national pride, Cuba’s healthcare system declines as energy shortages deepen crisis, writes ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

The UN blames gangs for Haiti’s turmoil, while ignoring decades of foreign intervention and support for an unelected government that lie at the heart of the country’s continuing crisis, says RUBEN BRETT

Bolivia’s protests are a response to Rodrigo Paz’s attempt to privatise core sectors of the economy and unravel two decades of socialist progress, say WIPHALAS ACROSS THE WORLD

From post-human revolution in Puerto Rico to trans poetics and queer mythmaking, these three books that imagine new ways of being together

Over 1,000 hostile US sanctions remain in place on Venezuela, while Britain continues its colonial theft of gold, writes MATT WILLGRESS

The US blockade of Cuba raises risks of a new global pandemic, experts warn at Unison conference

In the wake of his recent humanitarian visit to Cuba, RICHARD BURGON points to the now urgent need to defend the island’s political sovereignty and its right to self-determination

HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion

Newly revealed documents reveal that MI5 taught Brazilian secret police the techniques deployed by the 1964-85 military dictatorship in horrific prisons like Rio de Janeiro’s House of Death. SARA VIVACQUA reports

ADRIAN WEIR charts the intercontinental trade union solidarity with Cuba and its desperate predicament

CARLOS MARTINEZ reports on China’s role in helping Cuba develop self-sufficiency in renewable energy, which would shield it from the sort of pain Donald Trump is inflicting with his oil blockade

CLAUDIA WEBBE says the US is tightening the noose to destroy Cuban socialism — the need for immediate, international solidarity is urgent

While US restrictions tighten economic and social pressures on Cuba, international allies and grassroots campaigns are stepping in to support the island’s resilience, writes BERNARD REGAN, secretary of Cuba Solidarity Campaign

The indictment of Nicolas Maduro after a deadly US assault is just the latest phase in a long campaign against the Bolivarian government, warns FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ

If the United States wants international success in a game it built, maybe it should embrace the joy of the game rather than the unnecessary military pageantry, writes JAMES NALTON

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Alex Gordon outlines why communists defend Cuba’s socialist revolution as an urgent priority

DIANE ABBOTT says the socialist island has played an outsized role in the fight against racism worldwide — we must stand by it as Trump tries to choke it to death

As the US intensifies its economic and political pressure it is now vitally important to demand the British government intervene to end US aggression, writes GEOFF BOTTOMS

The Morning Star publishes an edited transcript of a speech by NICOLAS MADURO GUERRA, a Venezuelan MP and son of Venezuelan President Maduro. The speech was given at the recent Voices from Venezuela event marking two months since Trump’s attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores on January 3

DAVID RABY explains the background of the recent upheavals in Mexico

‘Solidarity with the Cuban people’s revolution is our overriding priority,’ international secretary KEVAN NELSON told the Communist Party’s political committee on Wednesday

by Megan Janetsky

Despite claims otherwise, the second Trump presidency does not signal a US pullback into the western hemisphere, argues JOHN ROSS

Continuous US threats against Cuba and Venezuela are a grave threat to democracy throughout the region, writes FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ

TARIQ ANDERSON urges widespread solidarity action against US increasing intimidation

JEREMY CORBYN calls on Britain to break free from Washington’s shadow and champion an independent foreign policy grounded in international law, solidarity and peace

The bombing of Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro were not isolated acts of aggression but the first move in a wider strategy to reassert US domination over the western hemisphere, argues LEE BROWN

Grounded in anti-imperialist history and lived co-operation, the region’s support highlights a growing global South resistance to genocide and domination, argues MATT WILLGRESS

FIDEL ANTONIO CASTRO SMIRNOV, grandson of the Cuban revolutionary leader, speaks to Morning Star editor Ben Chacko about his country’s resilience in the face of dire threats, its incredible achievements and the legacy of his grandfather

Trump is trying to crush Cuba — we in the British trade union movement have a duty of practical solidarity, argues MICAELA TRACEY-RAMOS

On January 29, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ to US national security and tightened the blockade against the island nation MANOLO DE LOS SANTOS reports

Meanwhile, US sends its first charge d’affaires to Venezuela in seven years after Maduro kidnapping

Washington’s decades-long blockade of Cuba is eroding not only the island’s economy but Britain’s own sovereignty, Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov tells the all-party parliamentary group on Cuba

Journalists and opposition politicians have described the decision to remove TeleSur from national TV programming as censorship against alternative and critical journalism, reports PABLO MERIGUET

With US sanctions, military pressure and electoral interference looming, the struggle over Colombia’s sovereignty — and the fate of its fragile peace process — has reached a critical moment, says NICK MacWILLIAM

Cuba, despite the privations, remains a beacon of sovereignty and resistance to imperialism, writes BERNARD REGAN

Honduras may not be as much in the spotlight as Venezuela and Cuba right now, but Trump's circling vultures are making their move. JOHN PERRY reports

With the illegitimate partition of Palestine, and inflicting ongoing terror on Palestinians, Israel and the US continue to smash down the basic principles of democracy

RON JACOBS welcomes a timely history of the Anti Imperialist league of America, and the role that culture played in their politics

Campaigners call on public to join protests across the country demanding Starmer stands up to the far-right US president