Joint Statement of the Communist Party and the YCL-LJC Canada, June 219

The Young Communist League and the Communist Party of Canada jointly denounce the closure of the Canadian Embassy in Venezuela and the diplomatic blackmail that forced, in corollary, the Chancellery of Venezuela, to close its consulates in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver as a measure of reciprocity.

Foreign Affairs’ Minister Chrystia Freeland justified this decision by saying that Venezuela would refuse the accreditation of certain diplomats. This decision is in no way justifiable from a diplomatic point of view. This is a purely political decision that increases Canadian participation in the multifaceted aggression of which Venezuela is victim. It includes demonizing the Venezuelan government to justify the need to intervene in this country.

The government’s decision follows a long history of interferences of all kinds in Venezuelan internal affairs. Already in the winter of 2015, a RCMP officer, Nancy Birbeck, took part in an attempt to bomb the presidential palace. In late summer 2017, Canada began to impose economic sanctions on Venezuela, the latest ones taking effect on April 15. These sanctions literally hold the population hostage: similar sanctions imposed by the United States have cost more than 40,000 lives. In addition, at the end of December 2017, Canada declared persona non grata and expelled the Venezuelan ambassador. In January 2019, the Government of Canada recognized a hitherto unknown member of the most violent faction of the Venezuelan opposition, Juan Guaidó, as the country’s parallel President, despite elections held in May 2018, which according to all reports’ highlights, were regularly held.

Given such a list of examples of interference that go as far as participation in a military coup attempt, it is hard to believe that Venezuelan diplomacy could not find a good reason for refusing to renew the accreditation of some Canadian diplomats. The fears of the Venezuelan authorities would be all the more justified as it was revealed recently that Canada literally hired a mercenary, Allan Culham, whose mandate would be to use his contacts in Venezuela to outright dismiss the Maduro government.

Despite all this, Venezuela has never expressed the will to cut diplomatic relations with Canada or to close the Canadian embassy in Caracas – even if it has become a de facto base for the fascist branch of the Venezuelan opposition. Neither has Venezuela interfered in Canada’s domestic affairs. The decision by the Freeland-Trudeau government to “suspend” activities of the Canadian embassy once again reveals Canada’s hypocrisy and double standard in international relations. If Venezuela had done even one tenth of what Canada did to Venezuela, diplomatic relations would have long since broken down.

This escalation of tensions between the two countries is part of a global framework marked by an unbridled growth of Western Imperialism’s aggressiveness, in particular from the United States and its Canadian and European allies, not only directed at Venezuela, but at Latin American countries and peoples who dare to challenge their subjugation to this barbaric system, for which there are no people, only markets and natural resources. It is no coincidence that Freeland’s June 2 announcement followed by only a couple of weeks, the closure of the Canadian Immigration Office in Havana, and the assault on the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States, an illegal act that Canadian diplomacy has refused to denounce.

Just a few months before the federal election, this action against Venezuela suggests that the Liberal Party persists in its desire to attack Venezuela and to subordinate its foreign policy more fully to that of Trump’s United States.

The YCL-LJC and the Communist Party reiterate their support for Bolivarian Venezuela, its people and its democratically elected government, of Nicolas Maduro Moros. We also salute the combativity, determination and courage of the people, who continue to stand up to the most aggressive imperialism, showing that despite its staggering strike force, imperialism is not impossible to defeat.

Finally, we commit to make international solidarity, especially with Bolivarian Venezuela, a central point of our electoral campaign. We will use this important platform to denounce the belligerent foreign policy pursued by the Liberal and former Conservative governments. We also pledge to fight for an independent foreign policy based on peace, sovereignty and solidarity, no matter what party will be elected on October 21.