Belarusian leader and Russian ally Alexander Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule on Monday after electoral officials declared him the winner of a presidential election Western governments rejected as a sham, Reuters reported.

Lukashenko, who faced no serious challenge from the four other candidates on the ballot, took 86.8% of the vote, according to initial results.

European politicians said the vote was neither free nor fair because independent media are banned in the former Soviet republic and all leading opposition figures have either been jailed or forced to flee abroad.

"The people of Belarus had no choice. It is a bitter day for all those who long for freedom & democracy," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock posted on X.

Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for an expansion of Western sanctions against Belarusian companies and individuals involved in repressing opponents of Lukashenko and supplying munitions for Russia's war effort in Ukraine, read the report.

"As long as Belarus is under Lukashenko and Putin's control, there will be a constant threat to the peace and security of the entire region," she said.

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a statement that the bloc would keep imposing "restrictive and targeted measures against the regime" while supporting civic society and the exiled opposition.

Asked about the jailing of his opponents, Lukashenko said on Sunday that they had "chosen" their own fate. He denied that his decision to release more than 250 people convicted of "extremist" activity was a message to the West in order to seek an easing of his isolation.

"I don't give a damn about the West," he told a rambling news conference that lasted well over four hours.

"We have never refused relations with the West. We have always been ready. But you do not want this. So what should we do, bow before you or crawl on our knees?" he said.

Throughout his career, Lukashenko has managed to make himself a useful ally to Russia and extract vital gains in the form of cheap oil and loans while preventing his country of 9 million people from being swallowed up by its much larger neighbour, Reuters reported.

But the war in Ukraine has tied him more closely than ever to Vladimir Putin, whose invasion was launched in part from Belarusian territory. Putin has also deployed Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said Lukashenko's re-election had been "transformed into a political show for a single person.

An election held under total central control, it said, with "political repression, an absence of political alternatives, attacks on freedom of speech and in the absence of an independent press cannot be legitimate. It is a farce."

Despite Lukashenko's denial, opponents and political analysts interpret his prisoner pardons as a move to start repairing ties with the West, and his latest re-election as a bid to restore his legitimacy and get major European countries and the United States to return their ambassadors to Minsk for the first time in years.

Human rights group Viasna, which is banned as an "extremist" organisation in Belarus, says there are still about 1,250 political prisoners in the country, read the report.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that Belarus had "just unilaterally released an innocent American", whom he named as Anastassia Nuhfer. He gave no further details about the case, which had not previously been made public.

The U.S. and Colombia lurched toward a trade war on Sunday as President Donald Trump threatened tariffs and sanctions on the country to punish it for turning away military aircraft carrying migrants being deported as part of his immigration crackdown, Reuters reported.

Colombia, the third largest U.S. trading partner in Latin America, swiftly responded, with leftist President Gustavo Petro first threatening a 50% tariff on U.S. goods and later posting on X that he had directed his trade minister to increase tariffs on U.S. imports by 25%.

Colombia is the second Latin American nation to refuse U.S. military deportation flights. Trump's punitive action demonstrated his more muscular U.S. foreign policy and his renewed willingness to force countries to bend to his will.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Petro's refusal to accept the flights jeopardized U.S. national security.

The retaliatory measures include imposing 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the U.S., which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials; and emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions.

Trump said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.

"These measures are just the beginning," he wrote. "We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"

He later posted a picture of himself on Truth Social in a pinstripe suit and a fedora in front of a sign reading FAFO, a common slang acronym for "Fuck Around and Find Out".

America will "no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, adding that Petro had authorized these flights but then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air.

A State Department spokesperson said the United States has suspended visa processing at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, read the report.

Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a sweeping crackdown since taking office last Monday. He directed the U.S. military to help with border security, issued a broad ban on asylum and took steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.

Colombia's Petro condemned the practice on Sunday, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes.

He also offered his presidential plane to facilitate the "dignified return" of Colombian nationals.

Petro said even though there were 15,660 Americans without legal immigration status in Colombia, he would never carry out a raid to return handcuffed Americans to the U.S.

"We are the opposite of the Nazis," he wrote.

Mexico also refused a request last week to let a U.S. military aircraft land with migrants.

Trump did not take similar action against Mexico, the largest U.S. trading partner, but has said he is thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 to force further action against illegal immigrants and fentanyl flowing into the U.S, Reuters reported.

A White House source said that the situation escalated quickly after Petro changed his mind about accepting the flights, with Trump taking "immediate action."

"Absolutely. Yes. Countries have an obligation to accept repatriation flights," the source said when asked if Trump was using Colombia to set an example. "The United States is simply sending back the criminals that Colombia sent to the United States."

The U.S. is Colombia's largest trading partner, largely due to a 2006 free trade agreement that generated $33.8 billion in two-way trade in 2023 and a $1.6 billion U.S. trade surplus, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

But Colombia ranks just 23rd among U.S. trading partners, which means it may have more to lose.

Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Colombia relied on access to the U.S. market for about a third of its exports, or about 4% of its GDP.

"In addition, the Petro-Trump relationship has started off on the wrong foot, which could signal additional challenges ahead," Czerwonko told Reuters.

Colombia's top 2023 exports to the U.S. were heavy crude oil, gold, coffee, cut roses, aluminum windows and diesel fuel, Census Bureau data showed. Its top imports from the U.S. were gasoline, civilian aircraft, corn, naphthas, and soybean solids.

Petro's comments added to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump's week-old administration starts mobilizing for mass deportations.

Brazil's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned "degrading treatment" of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.

The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

However, at an unscheduled stop due to technical problems in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazilian officials ordered removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement on Saturday.

The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the U.S. carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump's inauguration, according to Brazil's federal police.

U.S. officials did not reply to requests for comment about Brazil.

The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to Trump's national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday.

In the past, U.S. military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

This has been the first time in recent memory that U.S. military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said.

U.S. military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday, Reuters reported.

The U.S. State Department issued a "stop-work" order on Friday for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, Reuters reported citing a cable, after President Donald Trump ordered a pause to review if aid allocation was aligned with his foreign policy.

The cable, drafted by the Department's foreign assistance office and approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said waivers have been issued for military financing for Israel and Egypt. No other countries were mentioned in the cable.

The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally - in fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.

Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy but the scope of the order was not immediately known.

The State Department cable said effective immediately, senior officials "shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance" until Rubio has made a decision after a review.

It says that for existing foreign assistance awards stop-work orders shall be issued immediately until reviewed by Rubio.

"This is lunacy," Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official who is now president of Refugees International, said. "This will kill people. I mean, if implemented as written in that cable ... a lot of people will die."

"There's no way to consider this as a good-faith attempt to sincerely review the effectiveness of foreign assistance programming. This is just simply a wrecking ball to break as much stuff as possible," Konyndyk said.

Trump's order is unlawful, argued a source familiar discussions in Congress on the move.

"Freezing these international investments will lead our international partners to seek other funding partners - likely U.S. competitors and adversaries - to fill this hole and displace the United States' influence the longer this unlawful impoundment continues," the source said on condition of anonymity.

WAIVERS

A USAID official, who requested anonymity, said officers responsible for projects in Ukraine have been told to stop all work. Among the projects that have been frozen are support to schools and health assistance like emergency maternal care and childhood vaccinations, the official said.

Across the board, "decisions whether to continue, modify, or terminate programs will be made" by Rubio following a review over the next 85 days. Until then Rubio can approve waivers.

Rubio has issued a waiver for emergency food assistance, according to the cable. This comes amid a surge of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on Sunday and several other hunger crises around the world, including Sudan.

But Konyndyk said emergency food assistance was just a minority of all humanitarian assistance, adding that nutrition, health and vaccination programs will have to stop, as would relief aid to Gaza and Syria as well as services to refugee camps in Sudan.

"It's manufactured chaos," said a former senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Organizations will have to stop all activities, so all lifesaving health services, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, maternal and child health, all agriculture work, all support of civil society organizations, education," said the official.

The State Department cable also said waivers have so far been approved by Rubio for "foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt and administrative expenses, including salaries, necessary to administer foreign military financing."

Israel receives about $3.3 billion in foreign military financing annually, while Egypt receives about $1.3 billion

Other states identified for such financing in 2025 include Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Djibouti, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt and Jordan, according to a request to Congress from former President Joe Biden's administration.

That request also said foreign military financing would "also seek to bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces' ability to mitigate instability and counter malign Iranian influence."

The Lebanese military is currently trying to deploy into the south of the country as Israeli troops withdraw under a ceasefire deal that requires Iran-backed Hezbollah weapons and fighters to also be removed from the area.