PHOTO: Ambassador Wilmer Omar Barrientos talking to members of the audience at University of Ottawa
Ottawa. March 13, 2015. The Embassy of Venezuela in Canada promoted the conference "Human Rights and Democracy in Venezuela: The Truth behind the Economic Warfare, The Coup and US interference" in conjunction with the School of Political Studies of the University of Ottawa, main university in the Canadian capital.
The event was attended by over 125 students from different programs of the university, and with the active participation of organizations that defend the Bolivarian Revolution, among which the Hugo Chavez's People Defense Front, Territorio Libre, Hands of Venezuela, among others. The conference had as speakers Dr. Jorge Sorger, Venezuelan professor at McMaster University, Sam Heaton, independent Canadian journalist and Wilmer Barrientos for the Embassy of Venezuela.
The conference began with the presentation by Professor Sorger who presented a detailed summary of the poverty in Venezuela, and detailed how the Caracaso of 1989 was the trigger for a social and economic crisis unprecedented in the history of the country, until the arrival of the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999. He then detailed the economic variables that thanks to the administration of Chavez and Maduro, today we can say Venezuela is the maximum defender of human rights in the world. On this regard, he said "it is impossible to understand poverty if you have never been there, it is impossible to understand the human rights of the poor if you have never lived within it, hence it is impossible to understand the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution for those who have never been excluded."
Subsequently, the Canadian journalist Heaton stated that the citizens of Canada must move away from the interference of the United States because they do not have sufficient knowledge and information of what is really happening in Venezuela. "It is impossible to believe in private media and any information regarding Venezuela; it is sufficient to compare their opinion, their means and their main interests to understand that this country is being violated and transgressed.
Finally, the last presentation was from Ambassador Barrientos who gave a detailed explanation of what is happening in Venezuela following the continued Coup attempt, economic warfare and the new interference of the United States. The presentation was accompanied by the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution, from 1999 to the present day. In this regard, Ambassador Barrientos remarked that “Venezuelan Institutions, established under the Rule of Law and Justice, guarantee the exercise of political rights to all its citizens, within a framework of broad civic freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Venezuela has a constitution approved by 79.1% of the citizens of our country, and it is a constitution that defends human rights like no other in the world; as we have applied each word written there, an inescapable and tangible reality.
We are a country of peace, we are a people that upholds democracy and participation as supreme values of our performance as a nation. No posture of our revolutionary Government, nor of our people, nor our armed forces has led attacks against any people of the world. On the contrary all the actions in the international arena, as it was taught to us by our eternal Commander Hugo Chavez and his son Maduro, has been to champion international standards, the promotion of peace, self-determination, sovereignty and above all, the human rights of the people. "
