By Alison Bodine
Today, Venezuela is facing increasing threats, sanctions and foreign intervention. The United States has been the leader of these attacks against Venezuela’s sovereignty, especially through illegal sanctions, threats of military intervention, and the funding of violent right-wing counter-revolutionary groups and political parties. Venezuela was even included in the latest version of U.S. President Trump’s shameful and inhuman travel ban.
The U.S.-led campaign for “regime change” in Venezuela works hand-in-hand with Venezuela’s violent right-wing opposition. These counter-revolutionaries have attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Nicolas Maduro through an economic war of hoarding, price gouging and other sabotage. They have also waged a violent campaign
On September 22, 2017, Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that Canada is imposing sanctions against the government of Venezuela under the Special Economic Measures Act. According to Global Affairs Canada the sanctions are “against 40 Venezuelan officials and individuals who have played a key role in undermining the security, stability and integrity of democratic institutions of Venezuela.”
These sanctions are the latest escalation in a series of attacks carried out by the government of Canada in the name of supporting “human rights” and “democracy” in Venezuela; an overplayed and unsubstantiated excuse that has been used by the government of Canada before to justify their violations of Venezuela’s sovereignty. On top of the sanctions, Canada has been a leading voice demanding that the Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela by implementing the Inter-American Democratic Charter. As well, Canadian Professor Irwin Cotler is a member of a sham panel that is being set-up by the OAS, outside of Venezuela and without the support of the Venezuelan people, to investigate possible “crimes
CANADA HANDS OFF VENEZUELa! on the streets of Venezuela that resulted in the deaths of over 100 people in the four months between April and July, some of whom were burnt alive just for being suspected “Chavista” supporters of the Venezuelan government. Is Canada Really Concerned about “Human Rights” and “Democracy” in Venezuela?
Since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998, under both Liberal and Conservative governments, all major political parties in Canada have been consistent in their attacks against Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolutionary process.
against humanity” by the government of Venezuela. Cotler, a former Liberal politician and lawyer, is a good representation of who is participating in this panel. He is hardly unbiased in his views on Venezuela, as an international representative for Leopaldo Lopez, a leader in Venezuela’s violent opposition who is currently under house arrest after being convicted for inciting violence.
The government of Canada was also instrumental in the development of the “Lima Declaration,” which was released in August, 2017 following meeting in Peru of representatives from Canada and right-wing governments in Latin America. The Lima Declaration includes unsubstantiated allegations of the violation of various “human rights” and “democratic” norms in Venezuela, as well as a declaration that the signatories will not recognize the National Consistent Assembly elected in Venezuela on July 31, 2017. After all of these threats and rhetoric, the question must be asked, since when has the government of Canada been in a position to condemn other countries for their abuses of “human rights” and “democracy”? As it goes, people in glass houses shouldn’t through stones.
This September at the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted the human rights abuses committed by
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