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Written by: Daniel Xie

On December 6, 2020, Venezuela held parliamentary elections that saw a clear victory by the left wing “Great Patriotic Pole” coalition headed by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) with 67% of the vote. The victory of the PSUV in the December 6th elections have allowed the PSUV to hold a overwhelming majority of 253 seats in the newly elected National Assembly, which has seen an increase in the number of lawmakers from 167 seats (the number of seats in the 2015 National Assembly) to 277 seats.

The victory of the PSUV-led coalition in the 2020 parliamentary elections, which saw a strengthened mandate for the PSUV in the new National Assembly, elicited predictable condemnation from those seeking to facilitate regime change in Venezuela such as the Canadian government. Canadian foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne condemned the December 6 elections as supposedly “neither free nor fair”, and declared they will continue to recognize the results of the 2015 National Assembly elections, which saw a right wing dominated National Assembly.

The Canadian government also published a statement from the Lima Group, which it leads, regarding the 2020 elections. In that statement, the Lima Group declared the National Assembly installed on January 5, 2021 as illegitimate and supposedly the result of supposedly fraudulent elections of December 6, 2020. At the same time, they continue to recognize Juan Guaido as representing the legitimate government of Venezuela, and call on local and international actors to support efforts facilitating a supposedly free and democratic transition process to new elections as soon as possible.

Canada remains Committed to facilitating Regime Change in Venezuela

Canada and the Lima Group’s opposition to the 2020 Venezuelan Parliament elections highlights the continued commitment of the Canadian government to facilitating regime change in Venezuela, even as the Veneuelan people continue to affirm their support of president Nicolas Maduro and the PSUV. Previous articles on this website have discussed Canada’s role in the Lima Group, which serves as an extension of American imperialism directed against the Venezuelan government. Through the Lima Group and outside of the Lima Group, Canada has sought to destabilize Venezuela and make conditions favorable for regime change through various means, including:

Delegitimizing Venezuelan democracy if it fails to produce results favorable to American interests. This was evident not only in Canadian reactions to the 2020 Venezuelan parliamentary elections but with regards to the 2018 presidential elections as well, both of which Canada and the Lima Group refused to recognize the results of simply because Maduro emerged as the victor.
Despite claiming elections in Venezuela to be undemocratic, Canada has actively forbid Venezuelans living in Canada to vote in Venezuelan elections to help facilitate the defeat of Maduro and the PSUV
Pushing through fraudulent reports of alleged human rights abuses within Venezuela published through the Lima Group
Supporting the coup attempt by self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido by immediately recognizing Guaido’s coup attempt right after the US, and continuing to recognize Guaido as the supposedly “legitimate” president of Venezuela to this day.
Seizing control of Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s State oil company, PDVSA, and using Citgo’s funds to finance a pro-regime change NGO in the form of the Canadian-Venezuelan Engagement Foundation(CVEF), headed by the Guaido loyalist Orlando Viera-Blanco.
In preparation for a Guaido-led coup, pushing Venezuelan ambassadors working in Canada to work with an ambassador tied to the CVEF
Implementing various sanctions specifically designed to cause pain for the Venezuelan people in order to turn them against the Maduro government, sanctions that continue to be in place despite UN calls for them to be relieved to allow Venezuela to fight the Coronavirus outbreak within their borders

The Hypocrisy of Canada’s Condemnations of the Venezuelan Parliamentary elections

Even as the Canadian government demonizes Venezuela’s elections as illegitimate, and frames its opposition to the Venezuelan government as opposition towards it’s supposed antidemocratic behavior, Canada hypocritically works with authoritarian regimes elsewhere in Latin America opposed to the Venezuelan government. Within the Lima Group for instance, Canada is allied with the autocratic Honduran government, which has carried out various human rights violations such as violent attacks on lawyers, environmentalists and human rights activists. It supports the far-right regime of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, as well as the right-wing Columbian government, which has carried out political violence and surveillance of human rights activists within it’s borders.

Not only is Canada willing to work with far-right governments in Latin America to undermine the Venezuelan government, it is also willing to provide socioeconomic support in propping up said governments in the face of opposition. Despite crying foul about the supposed “lack of democracy” within Venezuela, the Trudeau government is perfectly willing to offer diplomatic support to the autocratic government of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. Recently, as reported by Yves Engler, Canadian foreign minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke with his Haitian counterpart Claude Joseph.

Engler states that the meeting between Champagne and Joseph indicated Canada’s willingness to back Moïse’s bid to extend his presidential mandate through illegal constitutional reforms extending Moïse’s presidential term to 2022. Claude Joseph had tweeted that Canada supported the constitutional reforms that the Moïse government has planned to make. These reforms are rejected by the majority of Haitian political actors.

Apart from seeking to enact illegal constitutional reforms, the Moïse government has also undertaken other means to consolidate authoritarian rule in Haiti. This process involved the creation of a Haitian national intelligence agency in November 2020. This intelligence agency was reported by Haiti Liberte to be legally untouchable and given the powers to not just to spy on civilians, but also to arrest anyone engaged in ‘subversive’ acts deemed to be threatening the president’s powers. The creation of a new national agency with significant powers coincides with new legislation to “strengthen public security” that contains massive fines and 50-year jail sentences for anyone accused of fermenting terrorist activity against the Haitian government; said terrorist activity including protest tactics such as the blocking of roads.

None of the measures taken by Moïse to strengthen authoritarian rule seem to be of any concern to Canadian government officials, who continue to view Moïse as an important ally in the Caribbean. In fact, an examination of Canada’s foreign policy with regards to Haiti reveals that they have provided economic support for the Haitian government in its effort to consolidate further power. Under Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), Trudeau has provided funding to the Haitian National Police for the purporse of strengthening institutional and operational capacities that would allow the Haitian National Police to maintain political stability in the country. The Haitian police have been responsible for potentially 100 deaths in response to continued political unrest since June of 2018.

The funding of the Haitian Police under the banner of a “feminist” international assistance not only reveals a lack of commitment to a genuine feminist and democratic foreign policy, but Canada’s complicity in strengthening rampant police violence directed against political dissidents in Haiti. Despite opposition to Venezuela’s supposed lack of democracy and human rights, Canada is more than happy to support fellow Lima Group governments such as the Haitian government while ignoring the human rights abuses of said Lima group governments.

Further Reading:

Canadian foreign policy on Venezuela Continues to Isolate it from the International Community

Support for Guaido’s attempted coup internationally has taken a significant hit with the PSUV victory. On January 6th, Telesur reported the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has stated that the EU would cease it’s recognition of Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela, nor will it recognize an extension of his mandate as interim president.

With the EU ceasing their recognition of Guaido’s self-declared mandate, Canada, the US, and various countries comprising the Lima Group, have found themselves further isolated from the opinion of the rest of the world in their efforts to undermine the decision of the Venezuelan people.

Previously Canadian efforts to further American-led regime change attempts in Venezuela have already isolated Canada diplomatically on the world stage. In 2020, Canada launched its second bid to regain its seat on the UN security council, losing that bid to Ireland and Norway, the latter of which has proven to be much more amiable to diplomacy over regime change as the way forward regarding the Venezuelan political crisis. Canada’s attempts to overthrow the Maduro government in service to American imperialism and the interests of Canadian corporations played a role in Canada’s defeat in its second bid to return onto the Security council. Venezuelan diplomats openly campaigned against Canada’s bid for a seat on the Security Council, and Venezuelan Vice-Minister of foreign relations for North America, Carlos Ron expressed condemnation on twitter at Canada’s support for “terrorists and mercenaries” seeking to overthrow the Maduro government.

Canada continues to isolate itself diplomatically in pursuing a regime change policy towards Venezuela

The continued opposition of Canada to Venezuela’s democratic process following the victory of the PSUV-led leftist coalition highlights Canada’s continued willingness to support American-led regime change efforts in Venezuela. Canada sells its continued opposition to the Venezuelan government to the public as driven by concerns for democracy instead of imperialism. However, this deceptive rhetoric hides the fact Canada’s foreign policy in Latin America with regards to “preserving democracy” is rife with hypocrisy. In seeking to overthrow the Maduro government, Canada is perfectly willing to ally itself with various far-right and autocratic regimes under the banner of the Lima Group such as the Haitian government of Jovenel Moïse and provide said support to these regimes.

These actions, as evident by Canada’s failed bid to regain it’s seat at the UN security council, have only further isolated us from the global community. Canada’s failure to learn from this experience going into 2021, as evident by their continued refusal to recognize the legitimacy of Venezuela’s Parliamentary elections, will only further continue to exacerbate our isolation from the rest of the international community.

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