Dear Friends of Venezuela:
The government of Canada aims at regime change in Venezuela in political alignment with the US Trump administration. Canada and Venezuela have shared unbroken diplomatic relations since February 1948, but they have never been at the current lowest point. Last October 19, Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelan minister of foreign affairs served the Canadian charge d’affaires, Craig Kowalik, a formal diplomatic protest note “for the persistent and systematic interference in the internal affairs of Venezuela.”
In recent months, Canada has also stepped up its actions against the Venezuelan government. In August, Ottawa joined a 12-nation group (later dubbed the Lima Group) opposed to the Maduro administration within the body of the Organization of American States (OAS). Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated the current situation in Venezuela is “untenable” and 40 high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including president Nicolas Maduro were sanctioned.
Canadian Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland has been very vocal criticizing the elections for governor that took place in Venezuela last October 15. In those elections candidates of the governing party won 18 of the 23 governorships. Ms. Freeland qualified them of fraudulent siding with the rightwing Venezuelan opposition.
While Freeland accuses the Maduro administration of breaking the constitutional order for calling the National Constituent Assembly with the aim of restoring peace through a national dialogue around a new constitution, she supports the opposition to do precisely that, break the constitutional order, by inciting it to reject a fair election and call to foreign intervention in Venezuela.
But Chrystia Freeland does not stop there. She stated, “Canada has taken a leadership role in addressing the crisis in Venezuela,” and announced that Canada will host the third ministerial meeting of the Lima Group in Toronto, Ontario, on October 26, 2017. The Lima Group is formed by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. These are OAS member states that failed to reach a vote to apply the democracy charter against Venezuela, and try now to meddle in its internal affairs outside that international body.
Within the OAS or outside the OAS, with 12 or 35 OAS states, with or without Canada’s leadership, the Venezuelan “crisis” is a matter to be resolved by all Venezuelans in Venezuela, and no one else.
Venezuela is a sovereign country that respects human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Venezuela has had fair elections held at international standards, in some cases also recognized by members of the opposition as well as by international observers and organizations including governments. The Venezuelan government stands by its legitimate actions and will not accept any interventions by a foreign country.
The Frente para la Defensa de los Pueblos Hugo Chavez-Capitulo Suroeste de Canada (Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front-Southwest Canada Chapter) calls on all people in solidarity with Venezuela to send messages of protest to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau to the addresses given below.
Address them strongly but politely to express your disapproval of Canada’s position against Venezuela. “The deterioration of the political situation” claimed by Chrystia Freeland is precisely the result of the unlawful foreign intervention that Canada is part of. You may want to suggest that Canada’s “concern” about Venezuela is viewed by many as a protection of Canada’s mining interests in the region.
Address your rejection of Canada’s accusation that the regional elections in Venezuela had “many irregularities” leading to question the “validity of the results.” Canada has not offered any proof of irregularities, neither has the opposition in Venezuela.
Please read carefully the following article about the recent regional elections to get familiar with the issue and select some of the points to make your case: https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13459
