INTERNACIONAL
El colapso de la cartilla de racionamiento acentúa la crisis económica en Cuba: “Prácticamente vivimos del aire”
José Luis Amate López no ha tenido un cliente en casi dos semanas, sin contar al flacucho gatito marrón que merodea por la bodega donde trabaja en el centro de La Habana.
Los estantes que durante su infancia rebosaban de productos estaban casi vacíos a finales de abril, con apenas nada que ofrecer a los 5.000 clientes que dependen de la tienda estatal para obtener alimentos subvencionados.
Las cartillas de racionamiento del gobierno, que antes proporcionaban una dieta sana y mantenían a las familias bien alimentadas durante un mes, ahora se están reduciendo.
A medida que la economía se derrumba y los precios se disparan, un número creciente de cubanos se encuentra incapaz de permitirse alternativas a las tiendas estatales y lucha por subsistir con salarios ínfimos en un país socialista de casi 10 millones de habitantes donde los productos básicos se venden cada vez más en dólares estadounidenses.
“Ningún cubano puede sobrevivir realmente con los productos de la cartilla de racionamiento”, dijo Amate López.
El líder revolucionario Fidel Castro estableció la libreta de racionamiento —«la libreta»— a principios de la década de 1960. Esta ofrecía productos fuertemente subsidiados, desde leche y pescado hasta cigarrillos. Los cubanos sabían que su bodega asignada estaría abastecida con todo lo que necesitaban para el primer día del mes.
La cartilla de racionamiento se redujo durante el “Período Especial”, cuando la ayuda soviética se desplomó en la década de 1990 y la pobreza azotó Cuba. Durante ese tiempo, los cubanos perdieron un promedio del 5% al 25% de su peso corporal, según un estudio publicado en una revista médica, debido a la escasez de productos básicos como pan, leche, huevos y pollo.
Aun así, muchos cubanos que vivieron esa época afirman que la situación actual es peor.
Amate López recordó que hace décadas la bodega que le habían asignado estaba tan llena que “apenas se podía caminar”.
Ahora es una habitación vacía con viejos carteles polvorientos que detallan los precios y cantidades de casi dos docenas de productos que ya no están disponibles, incluyendo yogur, pasta y pastillas de jabón. Dos congeladores industriales que antes rebosaban de carne y pollo solo sirven para mantener fría la botella de agua de Amate López. En abril, los únicos productos que tenía para vender eran arroz, azúcar y garbanzos partidos.
Los adolescentes cubanos que cumplían 15 años, una fecha importante en Latinoamérica, solían recibir pastel y varias cajas de cerveza. Ahora solo reciben 3 kilogramos de carne molida. El gobierno optó recientemente por celebrar a quienes cumplen 65 años obsequiándoles sardinas, una pastilla de jabón y un paquete de papel higiénico. Pero Amate López dijo que no tiene esos artículos.
Ana Enamorado, de 68 años y residente de La Habana, dijo que en abril solo pudo comprar garbanzos partidos y 1 kilogramo de azúcar en la bodega que le correspondía.
Con un salario y una pensión que suman unos 8.000 pesos cubanos (160 dólares) al mes, le cuesta comprar los pocos productos básicos que le quedan en las pequeñas tiendas privadas conocidas como “mipymes”.
Una caja de 30 huevos cuesta aproximadamente 3.000 pesos (125 dólares), 2 libras de picadillo de carne cuestan casi 900 pesos (37 dólares) y 1 libra de harina de maíz cuesta aproximadamente 200 pesos (8 dólares).
“Apenas hay nada en la cartilla de racionamiento”, dijo. “Prácticamente vivimos del aire”.
Sus almuerzos y cenas consisten en una rotación de arroz, carne molida sazonada y harina de maíz, o a veces nada en absoluto. Recordó que hubo un tiempo en que podía comer cerdo, cordero, fricasé, rodajas de plátano frito y arroz con frijoles rojos.
“Ahora tenemos que recortar gastos, comer una sola vez al día y vivir de los recuerdos”, dijo Enamorado.
Cuba importa hasta el 80% de los alimentos que consume, incluidos productos que se ofrecen en las tiendas estatales y que cada vez están más agotados debido a la falta de recursos gubernamentales.
“Simplemente ya no tienen el dinero para hacerlo”, dijo William LeoGrande, profesor de la American University que ha seguido de cerca la situación en Cuba durante años, refiriéndose a la falta de fondos del gobierno. “Las cosas se resuelven de forma improvisada”.
LeoGrande afirmó que el gobierno “metió la pata” con la fusión de las dos monedas cubanas en 2021 y que la inflación resultante ha persistido porque el Estado gasta mucho más dinero del que ingresa.
El gobierno tiene que dejar de imprimir dinero y equilibrar su presupuesto sin recortar drásticamente los servicios sociales, lo cual es un reto, ya que la mayor parte de los fondos estatales se destinan a la sanidad, la educación, el bienestar social y la importación de alimentos, afirmó.
“Cualquier recorte importante en el gasto estatal va a tener un profundo impacto social, por eso no lo han hecho”, dijo LeoGrande, y agregó que la inversión del gobierno en turismo es “mucho mayor” que la demanda turística, que se ha desplomado.
En los últimos años, el gobierno cubano ha hablado de subsidiar a las personas necesitadas en lugar de proporcionarles bienes. Eso liberaría fondos para importar combustible, medicinas y otros artículos, dijo LeoGrande.
Pero muchos cubanos siguen dependiendo de sus cartillas de racionamiento mientras la crisis de la isla se agrava debido a los graves cortes de electricidad, la escasez de petróleo y el bloqueo energético estadounidense que persisten.
Los humoristas cubanos han parodiado la cartilla de racionamiento, creando un personaje llamado “Pánfilo” que canta un estribillo rimado en un vídeo publicado recientemente en internet: “Coloca la libreta en un cementerio, porque está lista para ser enterrada”.
En una soleada tarde reciente, Lázaro Cuesta, de 56 años, hacía fila para recibir su ración diaria de dos panecillos pequeños para él y su esposa.
“Antes eran 80 gramos y costaban 5 centavos (cubanos). Ahora son 40 gramos y cuestan 75 centavos”, dijo. “Y la calidad es peor”.
Cuesta trabaja en la preparación de alimentos y gana 6.000 pesos cubanos (250 dólares) al mes. Su esposa, enfermera jubilada, recibe una pensión mensual de 4.800 pesos. Además, reciben 200 dólares al mes de su hermano y su hija, que viven en el extranjero.
Según Cuesta, las remesas les permiten comer aguacates, huevos, frijoles rojos y arroz.
“Si no fuera por las remesas”, dijo mientras se agarraba el cuello con la mano derecha, “ahorcaos”.
Aproximadamente el 60% de los cubanos en la isla reciben remesas, pero Rosa Rodríguez, de 54 años y residente de La Habana, no es una de ellas.
“Aquí todo escasea, absolutamente todo, incluso ese miserable pan que nos dan”, dijo Rodríguez. Gana 4.000 pesos cubanos (166 dólares) al mes, lo que, según ella, no es un mal sueldo para Cuba, pero “por mucho que trabajes, simplemente no es suficiente”.
Rodríguez dijo que el único producto que obtuvo en la bodega que le fue asignada en abril fue una donación de 1,8 kilogramos de arroz, mientras que tiene dificultades para comprar otros productos básicos.
“Si compras frijoles, no puedes comprar azúcar”, dijo, señalando que la mayor parte de su sueldo se gasta en una caja grande de huevos. “Si me jubilo, me muero”.
(con información de AP)
Cuba,racionamiento,escasez,supervivencia,economía,libreta,alimentos,Fidel Castro,gobierno
Inversionistas extranjeros están comprando deuda pública chilena a un ritmo récord, impulsados por un peso más débil, la perspectiva de recortes de las tasas de interés y el regreso de un gobierno de derecha más favorable al mercado.
Las tenencias de bonos soberanos denominados en pesos en manos de no residentes aumentaron un récord de US$ 2.930 millones, hasta US$ 20.200 millones en mayo, el último mes para el que el Banco Central dispone de cifras. Con ello, el incremento acumulado desde comienzos de año alcanzó el 36%, muy por encima del registrado en cualquier otro país de América Latina.
La demanda comenzó a repuntar a principios del año pasado, cuando el hoy presidente, el conservador José Antonio Kast, empezó a subir en las encuestas, y ganó aún más impulso tras su victoria en la segunda vuelta de diciembre, que dio paso al gobierno más derechista desde el retorno de Chile a la democracia en 1990. La última vez que la inversión extranjera aumentó a un ritmo comparable fue tras la elección del también conservador Sebastián Piñera a fines de 2017. Si a eso se suman un peso debilitado y las crecientes expectativas de un recorte de tasas, resulta fácil entender por qué Chile volvió a atraer a los inversionistas.
“Un gobierno favorable al mercado y las persistentes expectativas de consolidación fiscal hacen que Chile vuelva a ser un mercado atractivo para los inversionistas extranjeros”, dijo Christopher Mejia, analista de deuda soberana de mercados emergentes en T. Rowe Price. “Los mercados esperan reformas orientadas al crecimiento”.
El gobierno de Kast presentó un proyecto de ley destinado a impulsar el crecimiento que incluye reducciones de impuestos corporativos, invariabilidad tributaria para grandes proyectos de inversión y subsidios al empleo. Kast espera que el Congreso apruebe la ley este mes, con una meta de crecimiento del 4% para el final de su mandato. Sin embargo, su imagen pública no deja de caer (Ver aparte).
El peso chileno se debilitó hasta un 7 por ciento después de que EE.UU. comenzó sus ataques aéreos contra Irán a fines de febrero. Aunque ha recuperado parte de las pérdidas desde entonces, aún cotiza cerca de 920 por dólar, muy por encima de los 852 pesos por dólar registrado en febrero, su mejor nivel en tres años.
Además, es poco probable que el peso se fortalezca en el corto plazo. Mientras persiste la presión para que la Reserva Federal eleve las tasas en EE.UU., las menores expectativas de inflación y los débiles datos de crecimiento en Chile refuerzan apuestas por un recorte de tasas dentro de un año.
Todo ello hace que Chile se destaque en la región. Las tenencias extranjeras de deuda soberana de Colombia cayeron un 8,5% en los primeros cinco meses del año, después de que el gobierno desmantelara un programa de swaps en francos suizos que había dejado a algunos bancos extranjeros con bonos soberanos como garantía. En Brasil, donde la inflación se ha acelerado, las tenencias de no residentes aumentaron apenas un 2,5% en el mismo período. En México, retrocedieron alrededor de un 3,5%.
Entre finales de 2019 y finales de 2024, los inversionistas extranjeros redujeron en un 43% sus tenencias de deuda soberana local chilena, pese a que el gobierno aumentó las emisiones. La deuda chilena perdió atractivo tras el estallido social de 2019, que dio lugar a dos intentos fallidos de reescribir la Constitución y a sucesivos retiros de fondos de pensiones que redujeron la profundidad del mercado de capitales del país.
En el cuarto trimestre de 2024, los inversionistas extranjeros poseían apenas el 8% de la deuda pública denominada en pesos en circulación, la menor participación desde que existen registros, según datos del Ministerio de Hacienda.
Ahora, el presidente Kast llegó al poder con la promesa de reducir el gasto público, eliminar trabas burocráticas, bajar los impuestos corporativos e impulsar la inversión en infraestructura. También prometió endurecer la lucha contra la inmigración ilegal y la delincuencia. Esas políticas ayudaron a que el diferencial de los bonos chilenos en dólares frente a los bonos del Tesoro de EE.UU. cayera por debajo de 80 puntos básicos en mayo por primera vez desde 2007.
INTERNACIONAL
Top Platner ally turns on him after bombshell rape allegation rocks campaign: ‘Red line’
Maine voters speak out on Graham Platner’s controversies
Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is embroiled in controversy over his past behavior, including allegations of abuse from ex-girlfriends and a controversial tattoo he previously bore. Fox News correspondent Alexis McAdams details the divided opinion among Maine voters as Platner prepares for Tuesday’s primary against GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna’s support for Platner is also highlighted.
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Support for embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner is cratering among Democrats, with one of his most prominent supporters calling on him to exit the race following a harrowing rape allegation.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., rescinded his endorsement and called on Platner to suspend his campaign following a bombshell Politico report detailing a rape allegation by Maine resident Jenny Racicot, 41, who previously dated the scandal-plagued candidate.
Platner immediately denied Racicot’s account — which alleges that he barged into her home in 2021 and forced her to have unprotected sex — but has said his campaign is determining its next steps.
«I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,» Khanna said in a post on social media Monday evening. «These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.»
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a town hall event on Feb. 20, 2026 in Stanford, California. The town hall focused on taxing billionaires and the future of AI. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)
DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH SCANDAL-PLAGUED GRAHAM PLATNER, WARN OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ IN PARTY
Khanna’s statement preceded Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the head of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, issuing a joint statement calling on Platner to «immediately» leave the race, so the party can choose a new nominee.
The pair said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) would not invest in Maine — a top pick-up opportunity for Democrats in November’s midterm elections — if he continued to seek the battleground seat held by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Both Schumer and Gillibrand supported Gov. Janet Mills, D-Maine, in the contentious primary and did not endorse Platner until he won the party’s nomination.
Meanwhile, Khanna, a far-left populist with likely presidential ambitions, had embraced Platner’s insurgent Senate campaign for months amid a patchwork of controversies.
Khanna personally campaigned with the Maine Senate hopeful in June shortly before Platner became the party’s nominee. The campaign stop came just one day after Lyndsey Fifield, a former Platner girlfriend, accused Platner of abuse — an allegation first reported by The New York Times that Platner has fiercely denied.
By that point, Platner was also facing scrutiny for sending sexually explicit messages to at least half a dozen women while married, making a plethora of offensive online statements over the period of a decade and getting a Nazi-linked tattoo that he wore for most of his adult life.
Shannon Watts, a Democratic strategist and founder of the gun control group Mom Demands Action, slammed the timing of Khanna’s statement.
«You flew to Maine to campaign with him AFTER he was accused of assault against another woman,» Watts wrote on social media.
Khanna previously appeared to dismiss the severity of Fifield’s account alongside many Democratic lawmakers, who seized on her background in Republican politics. He also argued that Platner, a combat veteran who has struggled with PTSD, had overcome a dark past and was deserving of redemption.
«Here you have a case of someone who had a dark chapter in his life, was in toxic relationships, was ashamed about it, who served this country, and the Maine voters are saying, ‘Look, let’s give him some grace, and his focus is stopping these wars, and it’s getting national health insurance, and it’s taking on economic inequality,» Khanna told CBS News in an interview.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his primary election event in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)
WATCH: DEM SENATORS EXCUSE PLATNER’S CONDUCT AT CRISIS HUDDLE WITH EMBATTLED MAINE CANDIDATE
And Khanna told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum in June that he asked Platner if there were any credible allegations of sexual assault that had yet to be revealed. He said Platner denied it.
«I made it clear that, for me, is a red line,» the California lawmaker said. «And he said, no, there is not.»
«Now, obviously, he had texts that were allegedly consensual, and while he was married, And that’s a matter for him and his wife. And his wife came out and said that she forgave him. And so that is a different matter for me than abuse or assault or what people did in the Epstein class. It’s a very different matter.»
Khanna was not the only prominent Platner supporter to disavow the Senate hopeful following Monday’s rape allegation.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., an early Platner supporter, was the first prominent Democrat to rescind his endorsement after Politico’s report broke.
Meanwhile, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., rescinded his endorsement Monday evening, but stopped short of calling on Platner to exit the race.
Gallego, a former ally of disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has faced scrutiny over his past treatment of women. The Senate Ethics Committee recently dismissed a complaint brought by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., in a bipartisan manner.
His Arizona colleague, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who did not endorse Platner, also called on the Senate hopeful to suspend his campaign.
«Character and accountability matter regardless of party,» Kelly wrote on social media. «It’s time for Graham Platner to drop out and allow for someone else to be nominated and give Democrats the best chance to win this seat in November.»
Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has championed socialist candidates across the country, also distanced himself from Platner on Monday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., talks to reporters as he heads for a vote at the U.S. Capitol on Jun. 1, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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«This is beyond red flags. This is irredeemable,» Piker said during his livestream.
Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign for comment.
politics, graham platner, midterm elections, democrats elections, democratic party, sex crimes
INTERNACIONAL
Who is Turkey’s Erdoğan? How NATO’s most unpredictable leader keeps reinventing himself
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As President Donald Trump heads to Ankara, Turkey, for the upcoming NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is again at the center of alliance politics.
Trump has praised Erdoğan as «a friend» and «a respected leader,» underscoring a relationship that could shape defense talks between Washington and Turkey, including Turkey’s long-running effort to restore deeper military cooperation.
The moment highlights the remarkable position Erdoğan occupies today: Once regarded as one of NATO’s most troublesome allies after taking delivery of the Russian S-400 missile defense system in 2019, Turkey has become increasingly difficult for the alliance to sideline as the war in Ukraine drags on, instability grips the Middle East and the Black Sea grows more strategic.
For many, however, Erdoğan remains an enigma. Rather than being driven by a fixed worldview, experts argue, Erdoğan repeatedly has reinvented himself politically, adopting whichever ideology best serves his overriding objective: remaining in power.
TURKEY DETAINS OVER 200 SUSPECTS, INCLUDING ALLEGED ISIS MILITANTS, IN SWEEPING RAID AHEAD OF NATO SUMMIT
As President Donald Trump heads to Ankara, Turkey, for the upcoming NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is again at the center of alliance politics. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
Erdoğan has ruled Turkey for more than two decades, evolving from an Istanbul mayor with Islamist roots into a pro-European reformer, then a nationalist strongman, and now a pivotal NATO power broker courted by Trump.
To supporters, he restored Turkey’s global stature. To critics, he hollowed out its democracy while jailing rivals, journalists and activists. But Erdoğan’s most defining trait, experts say, may be less ideology than survival.
Is he an Islamist? A nationalist? A Western ally? A Russian partner? An authoritarian?
Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Erdoğan is that he has been all of those things — at different moments, according to Gönül Tol, founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey Program and author of «Erdoğan’s War: A Strongman’s Struggle at Home and in Syria.»
«He’s not an ideological man,» Tol told Fox News Digital. «He’s very pragmatic, first and foremost a populist.»
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remains an enigma for many. (AP)
The Conservative Democrat
Erdoğan’s roots lie in Turkey’s Islamist political movement. Educated at an Imam Hatip religious school, he entered politics through National Outlook, a right-wing Islamist movement founded by Necmettin Erbakan, and eventually became mayor of Istanbul as a member of Erbakan’s Welfare Party.
But after founding the AKP, or Justice and Development Party, in 2001, Erdoğan abandoned the Islamist label, presenting himself instead as a «conservative democrat» committed to economic reform and closer ties with Europe — a shift that experts say marked the first of several political reinventions.
When Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party first swept to power in 2002, Turkey was seeking membership in the European Union, military influence over politics was shrinking, and Erdoğan promised democratic reforms, economic modernization and closer ties with the West.
Many liberals and centrists initially supported him.
«He often said, ‘I’m not an Islamist anymore. I’m a conservative democrat,’» Tol said. «And that brand really served him well.»
Those early years transformed both Turkey’s economy and Erdoğan’s popularity.
TRUMP BETS ON FORMER NATO TROUBLEMAKER AS TURKEY’S STRATEGIC VALUE SURGES
Many liberals and centrists initially supported Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan. (Dilara Senkaya/Reuters)
The Islamist
After consolidating power, Erdoğan began another political transformation.
Following the Arab Spring in 2011, he increasingly portrayed himself as a champion of political Islam, backing Islamist movements across the Middle East while presenting himself domestically as the defender of Turkey’s conservative religious majority.
«He wanted to inject more Islam into public life, into education,» Tol said. «He was using this more Islamist narrative… the goal was always to acquire more power.»
That anti-Western turn went beyond rhetoric.
In 2016, Erdoğan accused the U.S.-led coalition of supporting terrorist groups in Syria, including ISIS and Kurdish militias that Turkey considers terrorist organizations— an allegation the State Department dismissed as «ludicrous,» according to Reuters.
His increasingly vocal support for Hamas and sharp criticism of Israel became defining features of his foreign policy.
«The perpetrators of the massacre and the destruction taking place in Gaza are those providing unlimited support for Israel,» Erdoğan said in 2023, adding that Israel’s attacks and those backing them amounted to «murder and mental illness,» according to Reuters.
Tol cautions against viewing those positions alone as evidence that Erdoğan remains primarily motivated by Islamism.
«Anti-Israel sentiment cuts across ideological lines in Turkey,» she said, arguing that Erdoğan’s foreign policy has consistently reflected political calculation more than religious doctrine.
TRUMP’S TURKEY ARMS SALE PROPOSAL SPARKS CONGRESSIONAL QUESTIONS BEFORE NATO SUMMIT
Protesters carry a banner with pictures of the slain Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. (Murat Kocabas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The nationalist strongman
As Turkey’s economy slowed and regional ambitions faltered, Erdoğan pivoted once again.
He embraced Turkish nationalism, built alliances with hardline nationalist parties and cultivated the image of an indispensable strongman capable of restoring Turkey’s historical influence.
Supporters credit him with transforming Turkey into a regional power.
«He does have genuine support,» Tol said, estimating his support at roughly 35%.
Some supporters depend on government assistance and patronage networks built under his rule. Others believe Erdoğan restored dignity to conservative religious Turks who long felt marginalized by the country’s secular establishment.
Still others view his increasingly assertive foreign policy as proof Turkey has reclaimed its place on the world stage.
«They think, ‘We have become a world-class nation,’» Tol said. «‘Everyone is praising our president. Turkey is a big player.’»
While Erdoğan continues to command a loyal political base, critics say the price has been Turkey’s democratic institutions.
Authorities increasingly have used courts and criminal investigations to sideline political opponents, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whose arrest earlier in 2026 triggered nationwide demonstrations, according to Human Rights Watch.
The organization says the government has intensified efforts to weaken Turkey’s main opposition party despite its strong performance in the 2024 municipal elections.
TRUMP’S PERSONAL FEUDS WITH ALLIES FROM ITALY TO ISRAEL REVEAL HOW PERSONALITY DRIVES HIS FOREIGN POLICY
President Donald Trump greets Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a summit to support ending the war in Gaza, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. (Evan Vucci AP Photo/ Pool)
The NATO dealmaker
Today, Erdoğan finds himself in another political transformation.
After years of anti-Western rhetoric and disputes with Washington, Turkey has worked to repair relations with the United States and Europe.
That rhetoric was once central to Erdoğan’s posture.
He accused the U.S.-led coalition in Syria of supporting terrorist groups, blasted Washington’s sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system, calling them a «hostile attack» on Turkey’s sovereign rights and defense industry, and repeatedly accused Western governments of enabling Israel’s war in Gaza.
The shift comes as Turkey’s strategic importance has grown dramatically.
The S-400 purchase remains at the center of one of the biggest unresolved disputes between Washington and Ankara. After Turkey took delivery of the Russian system in 2019, the U.S. expelled Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program and later imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defense procurement agency.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey recently told Fox News Digital that restoring Turkey to the F-35 program remains far more complicated than other defense deals because operating the Russian-made S-400 alongside America’s most advanced stealth fighter could expose sensitive U.S. technology.
«The F-35 is a different issue,» Jeffrey said, arguing that the problem is technical, not merely political.
Turkey controls the Bosporus and Dardanelles, fields NATO’s second-largest military and plays a critical role in the Black Sea following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Jeffrey said that Turkey has been «essential to Ukraine staying in the fight,» pointing to Turkey’s enforcement of the Montreux Convention, a 1936 treaty that gives Turkey control over naval passage through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, its early delivery of Bayraktar drones to Ukraine, and its role as a mediator between Kyiv and Moscow.
«You can’t contain Russia in the Black Sea without Turkey,» Jeffrey said.
For Tol, however, Erdoğan’s latest embrace of NATO is simply another example of his political flexibility.
«There was a time when he was very anti-Western, very critical of NATO, very critical of the United States,» she said.
«And now look at him.»
People chant slogans as they protest the arrest of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in Istanbul, Turkey, March 19, 2025. (Francisco Seco/The Associated Press )
Growing criticism
Human Rights Watch argues Erdoğan has used Turkey’s growing importance to NATO as political cover while expanding pressure on journalists, activists and opposition figures.
Freedom House says Erdoğan has become «increasingly authoritarian» over the past decade, consolidating power through constitutional changes and the imprisonment of political opponents, independent journalists and civil society figures.
Turkey’s prisons held more than 420,000 inmates — far exceeding their official capacity of roughly 304,000, according to a June 2026 report citing Turkish Justice Ministry figures.
NATO allies have grown quieter on Turkey’s rights record as Ankara’s strategic value has risen, Reuters reported ahead of the summit, with former U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield saying it remains important for the West to speak publicly about the «degradation of democratic institutions in Turkey.»
Tol believes Erdoğan’s domestic agenda can be understood through a single principle.
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People take part in a demonstration against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sweden’s NATO bid arranged by The Kurdish Democratic Society Center in Sweden, in Stockholm, Jan. 21. 2023. (Christine Olsson/TT via AP)
«Everything is designed to keep him in power,» she said. «Beyond that, I don’t see a binding ideology that brings together all his policies.»
As Trump heads to Turkey, that may be the key to understanding one of NATO’s most consequential — and unpredictable — leaders.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Turkish government for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips and Reuters contributed to this report.
turkey, nato, donald trump
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“Me gustaría que el Gobierno vaya a un proceso de transición y renovación”: el llamado de De la Torre ante el retroceso productivo en la provincia
Nuevos CEDEARs de bonos y lo «positivo» de no ser mercado Emergente: definiciones del CEO de BYMA
POLITICA3 días agoJavier Milei felicitó a Keiko Fujimori y anunció una nueva etapa en la relación bilateral con Perú
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Sólo necesitó 25 minutos para financiarse y ya ha alcanzado el 634% de su objetivo. Así es el metroidvania que está arrasando en Kickstarter
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La posible implementación de las colectoras en 2027 genera rechazo en la oposición y dudas entre los aliados
