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US State Department no Longer wants Elections in Venezuela
Latin America and the CaribbeanWith presidential elections announced in Venezuela, the US State Department moved quickly to declare that the contest would not be recognised. But less than a year ago the tune was quite different, as a cursory look through State Department briefings and press releases will show. We also examine how political developments from the past year have led to the current scenario, and how US demands for “free and fair” elections are not only arrogant and hypocritical but also misleading.
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UN Independent Expert: Venezuela Sanctions Must be Terminated and Economic War Must End
Latin America and the CaribbeanFrom 26 November to 4 December 2017, Professor Dr Alfred M. de Zayas carried out an official mission in Venezuela. He had requested an invitation in August, which the Venezuelan Government granted in September, making him the first UN rapporteur since 1996 to be invited and to conduct an official UN visit to Venezuela. The purpose of the mission was to explore how the Bolivarian Revolution had implemented human rights – especially in the economic, social and cultural domain.
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Canada vs. Venezuela: Have the Koch Brothers Captured Canada’s Left?
Canadian PoliticsSo when Chrystia Freeland acts to target Venezuela because “this is our hemisphere,” she is acting in concert with the Koch Brothers’ (and oil patch) desires – of course, without ever mentioning the tar sands. Is this the reason why the NDP’s foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière has also been so reactionary towards the Venezuelan government? It’s hard to know, but these days politically (and wherever you look) it’s usually always about the oil.
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Has it become NDP policy to support US-backed coups in Latin America?
Canadian PoliticsLaverdière has also failed to challenge Canadian sanctions on Venezuela. In a move that probably violated the UN and OAS charters, in September the elected president, vice president and 38 other Venezuelan officials had their assets in Canada frozen and Canadians were barred from having financial relations with these individuals. Two months later 19 Venezuelan officials were sanctioned under the just adopted Magnitsky Act, which Laverdière and the NDP backed.
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Venezuelan people are prime victims of Ottawa’s sanctions
Latin America and the CaribbeanThe Maduro government is by no means exempt from responsibility for these deteriorating conditions. It has displayed a remarkable ineptness in its failure to overcome the economic crisis by tackling its underlying causes, notwithstanding some innovative maneuvering that has, for now, staved off the offensive by its right-wing political opponents and their foreign supporters.
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Canada Must Stop Support to Honduras Regime following Botched Election
Latin America and the CaribbeanWhile the state of emergency has been lifted across most of the country, it is also urgent that the Canadian government publicly and vociferously call for a full restitution of constitutional rights and clearly denounce police and military repression and criminalization of anti-electoral fraud protesters and all citizens, as well as efforts to silence the press.
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Venezuela votes in municipal elections
Latin America and the CaribbeanMunicipal elections took on 10 December 2017 in Venezuela, electing 335 mayors. There was also an election for the governorship of the Zulia state. This was the 24th national election in Venezuela since 1998 and the third in less than 4 months. The total number of candidates was 1,568, with voting taking place in 14,384 polling stations. There were 32,700 electronic machines to vote.
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Solidarity with Venezuela
Latin America and the CaribbeanWhen it comes to Venezuela, the mainstream media is awash with lies and distortions and the Canadian government is complicit in an attempt to force the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Nicolás Maduro. One can easily imagine Trump and Trudeau agreeing that it would be a crime to leave the largest proven oil reserves in the world under the control of a socialist government pledged to use this wealth on behalf of some of the poorest people in the world.
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Canada’s ongoing complicity with exploitive extraction schemes
Canadian BusinessOne hundred and seventy-six years on, the Canadian state today remains more committed to — and dependent upon — the mining business than any other government in the world. Three-quarters of the world’s mining companies today are headquartered in Canada. The bulk of this investment comes from outside of Canada, while the majority of the production it finances also occurs abroad.
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IMF refuses Barbuda debt relief after hurricane, Cuba dispatches medical staff across Caribbean
Latin America and the CaribbeanThe IMF’s refusal to converse about funds owed by the tiny Caribbean island was made clear by Christopher Lane, the financial institution’s special representative to the UN. “Our general view is that we’d rather put new money in than to have a moratorium,” Lane said. He exemplified the IMF’s position by stating that the institution may borrow funds from the US and loan them to Antigua.
