Stand with the Venezuelan People and Their Bolivarian President and Government!
No to a U.S. Imperialist-Inspired Coup d’État!
Demand that Canada Stop Its Interference in Venezuela’s Internal Affairs!

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) ) sends congratulations to the Venezuelan people and their President Nicolás Maduro Moros on the occasion of his assuming office as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for a second term on January 10.
It also condemns in the strongest of terms the criminal campaign of U.S. imperialism and its appeasers — the government of Canada figuring prominently among them — aimed at forcing regime change in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and removing its democratically elected president.
This month a new offensive has been launched by the Organization of American States (OAS) and its illegitimate offspring known as the Lima Group with the U.S. pulling the strings behind the scenes while not figuring as a member. The offensive is timed to coincide with the January 10 swearing in of President Nicolás Maduro to his second term in office that will extend to 2024. He was the candidate for a coalition of parties and was re-elected democratically on May 20, 2018.
On January 10, the day President Maduro assumes office, a special meeting of the Permanent Council of the OAS has been called at the behest of the United States and eight members of the Lima Group including Canada “to consider the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” No other details are publicly available.
On January 4, a minority of 13 member states of the OAS acting as the Lima Group[1] met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participating by video link, after which they declared that they will not recognize President Maduro’s re-election, asserting without any credible evidence, like they did even before the May 20 election took place, that it was “illegitimate.” In their statement they expose their intention to provoke a crisis, even a civil war, by provocatively “urging” President Maduro not to assume office on January 10 but to “provisionally transfer executive power” to the National Assembly (AN), controlled by opposition parties, until new democratic elections are held.
The National Assembly which these regime change forces want to vest with the power normally held by the President of the Republic was declared to be in a situation of contempt in 2016 for refusing to submit to the authority of the Supreme Court or comply with its orders — violating the country’s constitution, a state it remains in today.
In its statement the Lima Group also calls on its members to increase punitive measures and sanctions of different kinds against Venezuela, such as refusing entry to their countries to “high level” officials. It asks them to consider pressuring international and regional institutions they are members of to block loans to the government of Venezuela, and urges countries everywhere to adopt coercive measures including economic, financial and trade sanctions like those supported by the Lima Group.
Mexico’s new government, to its honour, broke ranks with the coup forces and refused to sign the Lima Group statement. In his own statement to the meeting, Mexico’s representative said his country followed a policy of non-intervention and respect for the self-determination of peoples. He said Mexico would not comment on the legitimacy of the Venezuelan government and did not support any route that did not prioritize the promotion of peace and dialogue as opposed to isolating Venezuela and interfering in its internal affairs. In taking this stand Mexico joined the majority of states belonging to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who have also held firm to the policy of non-intervention despite big pressure from the likes of the U.S. and Canada to fall in line.
No to the Use of Force to Impose Foreign Tutelage!
On January 5 a new session of Venezuela’s dysfunctional National Assembly was inaugurated and an election held for its new president and Executive Board, under the eye of a contingent of foreign ambassadors and other diplomats. Revealing who is pulling the strings, the new president pledged the National Assembly’s full legal and institutional support to “the international community” and the country’s armed forces so they can “act in defence of the people and the constitution.” His party, Voluntad Popular, provided another insight when it thanked its benefactor, the U.S. government, for “all its support” in the installation of the new National Assembly and the election of its president for this session.
It is clear that in the name of “restoring democracy and respect for human rights” the U.S. imperialists, their accomplices and appeasers want to impose a regime favourable to their interests, not those of the Venezuelan people, by force. The reference to the armed forces “defending the people and the constitution” is a veiled attempt to incite the Bolivarian armed forces to engage in armed insurrection and stage a coup justified as a rebellion against tyranny.
CPC(M-L) joins with the patriotic forces of Venezuela and all over Our America and the world in standing as one with the Venezuelan people and their Bolivarian government in the fight to defend their sovereignty and the people’s very right to be in the face of the criminal interference and aggression being committed against them by the U.S. imperialists and those like the Trudeau government appeasing them by joining this nefarious activity, violating the rights of Venezuelans, subjecting them to privation of all kinds and health risks as the cruel and illegal economic, financial and commercial blockade is tightened and expanded, and inciting a fratricidal war.
We call on all Canadians and Quebeckers to show support for the fight of Venezuela’s people and government to defend their nation-building project and to be the masters of their own destiny without interference from foreign interests and condescending saviours, themselves the biggest violators of human rights, freedom and democracy. Their claim that the crimes they are committing are to help restore democracy and human rights in Venezuela are outrageous and must not be allowed to prevail.
Stand with the Venezuelan People and Their Bolivarian President and Government!
Note
1. Countries which form the Lima Group: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia.