Two Americans have died in the Philippines during a military engagement that the government said involved communist-linked groups.

Lyle Prijoles, 40, and transgender woman Kai Dana-Rene Sorem, 26, were among the 19 people killed last month during a firefight between the Philippine Army and suspected members of a communist insurgency.

The U.S.-born Filipino Americans are now at the center of a disputed encounter, with critics alleging the two were active combatants for the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Human rights groups and the NPA, however, reportedly maintain that the pair were civilian activists who posed no military threat.

According to the City Journal, the two Americans were first exposed to left-wing ideology through college-linked institutions that critics say helped pave the way to involvement with groups the Philippine government has long argued serve as fronts for the CPP.

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«This brings to two (2) the number of U.S. citizens—Lyle Prijoles and Kai Dana-Rene Sorem—who died in the same incident, a development that highlights the increasing involvement of individuals from outside the Philippines in local armed hostilities,» the Philippines’ National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said.

«The presence of two American fatalities in a single encounter should prompt careful reflection on how involvement in certain activities or networks may lead to unintended exposure to dangerous environments.»

On April 19, Philippine troops engaged in an armed encounter in Toboso, Negros Occidental, according to the NTF-ELCAC. The agency characterized the 19 dead as enemy combatants during an operation aimed at dismantling the decades-long communist insurgency in the Philippines.

On the other hand, family members and human rights advocates reportedly described Prijoles and Sorem as dedicated civilian community activists. The NPA acknowledged that 10 of those killed were members of its armed revolutionary force, but claimed the remaining victims — including several activists such as Prijoles and Sorem — posed no military threat, the San Francisco Standard reported.

INSIDE THE FAR LEFT ‘BREEDING GROUND’ UNIVERSITIES ALLEGED WHCD CALLED HOME FOR YEARS

Members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) from various schools and universities clash with the police in Manila on Nov. 13, 2025. (NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In 2012, Prijoles, a Filipino American born and raised in San Diego, California, was involved with Anakbayan, which translates to «Children of the Nation,» a prominent left-wing youth and student organization founded in the Philippines in 1998. Anakbayan-USA operates across several major U.S. college campuses and has drawn scrutiny from critics over its opposition to U.S. involvement in the Philippines. 

His activism reportedly began after attending San Francisco State University around 2004, when he joined the League of Filipino Students (LFS), a left-wing political alliance rooted in Marxist, Leninist and Maoist ideology, the City Journal said.

After 2006, Prijoles reportedly made several trips to the Philippines organized by Bayan USA, another left-wing activist network. The Philippine government has alleged that both organizations function as fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

Prijoles also may have harbored animosity toward the Armed Forces of the Philippines after his friend — the father of his godchild and chairperson of the U.S. chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines — survived a 2019 assassination attempt that left him paralyzed, according to City Journal.

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Philippine Navy personnel are deployed to the area as members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) from various schools and universities march towards the U.S. Embassy in Manila on Nov. 13, 2015. (George Calvelo/NurPhoto)

Meanwhile, Kai Dana Sorem was a Filipino American from Seattle whose political development was initially shaped by a search for personal and cultural identity, according to advocacy group Malaya Movement.

Her early political involvement reportedly included serving as a legislative page for the Washington State Democratic Party. Sorem later deepened her activism within left-wing Filipino diaspora organizations while attending the Central Washington University in 2020. She later launched the South Seattle chapter of Anakbayan, Malaya Movement said.  

In 2025, Sorem reportedly traveled to the Philippines on a U.S.-based exposure trip, and by 2026, she had relocated to the country full-time to work as an organizer.

El Gobierno de Panamá tendrá a finales de mayo los resultados finales de la auditoría integral realizada a la mina Cobre Panamá, un documento que será determinante para definir el futuro de la operación minera suspendida desde noviembre de 2023 tras el fallo de inconstitucionalidad emitido por la Corte Suprema de Justicia.

Así lo confirmó el ministro de Comercio e Industrias, Julio Moltó, quien señaló que el Ejecutivo mantiene la postura anunciada previamente por el presidente José Raúl Mulino: esperar el cierre completo del proceso técnico antes de tomar cualquier decisión sobre la mina.

“A finales del mes de mayo” estarán listos los resultados finales, respondió el ministro al ser consultado sobre el cronograma de la auditoría.

Moltó evitó confirmar si el Gobierno ha ofrecido un nuevo contrato a Minera Panamá, subsidiaria de la canadiense First Quantum Minerals, y reiteró que primero deben analizarse los hallazgos técnicos y ambientales del informe integral.

“Seguimos en la auditoría integral y cuando esa auditoría se finalice, el gobierno panameño, tal cual lo dijo el presidente de la República, tomará decisiones al respecto”, afirmó.

El ministro recordó que el Gobierno aprobó previamente un plan de gestión segura para mantener protegida el área de la mina y permitir la salida de materiales que podían representar riesgos ambientales. Según explicó, todo el proceso ha sido coordinado junto al Ministerio de Ambiente y acompañado por la auditoría multidisciplinaria que actualmente desarrolla la empresa SGS Panama Control Services Inc.

Precisamente, el sexto informe mensual de esa auditoría fue divulgado recientemente y confirmó que el documento final todavía continúa en elaboración.

El reporte detalla que la revisión abarca aspectos ambientales, legales, laborales, tributarios, técnicos y operativos vinculados con el proyecto minero ubicado en Donoso, provincia de Colón.

Uno de los puntos más relevantes es que todavía no se publica la evaluación definitiva sobre el cumplimiento de los 370 compromisos derivados del Estudio de Impacto Ambiental Categoría III. Ese análisis será incorporado dentro del informe consolidado junto con los anexos técnicos y el resumen ejecutivo.

La expectativa alrededor de la auditoría ha crecido debido al peso económico que tuvo la mina antes de su suspensión. Diversos organismos internacionales y firmas privadas han advertido que el comportamiento económico de Panamá en 2026 sigue condicionado, en parte, por una eventual reactivación de Cobre Panamá, que antes de su cierre representaba cerca del 5% del Producto Interno Bruto y una porción importante de las exportaciones nacionales.

No obstante, organizaciones ambientales señalan que el fallo de la Corte es claro y aseguran que el Gobierno no lo ha acatado al permitir que la empresa continúe procesando las reservas almacenadas dentro de la concesión minera.

El quinto informe de la auditoría ya había advertido sobre riesgos potenciales relacionados con drenaje ácido de rocas, manejo ambiental, biodiversidad y cumplimiento de compromisos sociales. También señalaba que todavía quedaban pendientes múltiples validaciones documentales y técnicas sobre obligaciones ambientales adquiridas por la empresa.

Mientras el Gobierno espera el cierre definitivo de la auditoría, Moltó aseguró que Panamá mantiene un ambiente atractivo para la inversión internacional y destacó el interés de empresas extranjeras en instalarse en el país. El ministro sostuvo que actualmente existen inversionistas europeos y de otras regiones evaluando proyectos en sectores médicos, logísticos y manufactureros.

Según explicó, la estrategia impulsada por la administración de José Raúl Mulino busca consolidar a Panamá como una plataforma regional de servicios, manufactura y toma de decisiones empresariales, aprovechando ventajas como el Canal de Panamá, el aeropuerto internacional de Tocumen y la conectividad logística del país.

Aunque el Ejecutivo mantiene abierta la posibilidad de tomar decisiones una vez concluya la auditoría, todavía no se conoce cuál sería el mecanismo jurídico que utilizaría el Gobierno en caso de avanzar hacia una eventual reapertura de la mina. Hasta ahora, Mulino ha reiterado públicamente que cualquier salida no implicaría regresar a la Asamblea Nacional para aprobar un nuevo contrato ley, como ocurrió con el acuerdo declarado inconstitucional en 2023.

President Donald Trump is confident that his pick for U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State will easily defeat Democrat James Talarico, whom he called unelectable because «he’s a vegan in Texas.»

Talarico is a prominent state lawmaker who was only recently propelled to the national stage after winning the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas earlier this year. He has been widely lambasted by conservatives for his history of controversial statements, including claiming, «God is non-binary» and that «sex is a spectrum.»  

While speaking with reporters before boarding Air Force One on Wednesday morning, Trump predicted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who he endorsed this week, will «win very substantially» in the upcoming primary runoff with incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

He then forecasted that Paxton would «go on to defeat a very defective candidate that believes in six genders, and he takes hits at Jesus Christ, and he’s wearing a mask six months ago, anybody wearing a mask six months ago doesn’t get it.»

‘GOD IS NON-BINARY’: TEXAS DEM NOMINEE TALARICO’S PAST REMARKS ON ABORTION, RACE AND GENDER DRAW SCRUTINY

He then ripped into Talarico, saying, «And he’s vegan, he’s a vegan in Texas.»

«You can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas,» Trump insisted.

Trump’s comments reference an unearthed 2022 clip of Talarico giving a speech and calling reducing meat consumption «existential.»

«We have heard, I think, heard more and more issues of animal welfare. I think, not just because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s the moral thing to do, but also… necessary to fight climate change,» Talarico said, adding, «It is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption, and that we try to respect animals.»

«So, I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign,» Talarico continued. «So, we are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.»

Talarico can be seen wearing a mask during the speech.

TEXAS TEEN TELLS CONGRESS HE RECEIVED DEATH THREATS AFTER REVEALING ISLAMIC BOOTH AT HIGH SCHOOL

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on March 2, 2026. (Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)

His resurfaced comments caused a significant stir in Texas, where beef cattle production is a multibillion-dollar industry and the state’s largest agricultural segment.

«Who wants to tell him that cattle is the #1 commodity in Texas?» the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, wrote on X.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, labeled Talarico a «freak» who wants to «ban BBQ.»

«Vote Republican this November. The steaks couldn’t be higher,» Cornyn wrote.

Amid the backlash, the Talarico campaign blasted out a photo of the candidate wearing a Texas flag shirt and taking a large bite out of a turkey leg.

«Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations,» the campaign wrote.

TRUMP BACKS PAXTON IN TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATE SHOWDOWN WITH CORNYN

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, left, faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a GOP primary runoff election. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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In response to Trump’s criticisms on Wednesday, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, told Fox News Digital that «as costs continue to rise and corruption in Washington runs rampant, James is focused on taking power back for working people and bringing down the price of gas, groceries, and healthcare.»

«James is building a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system — not any one politician, not any one political party, but the billionaire mega donors and puppet politicians who have made life more expensive for Texans while enriching themselves,» said Ennis.