Government's Subservient Foreign Policy
- Margaret Villamizar -
 
The Liberal Speech from the Throne delivered on
November 23 by Governor General Mary Simon made
clear the Trudeau government's intentions with
respect to foreign policy for the 44th Parliament.
It identified what it called pressing challenges
of our time as "rising authoritarianism" and "big
power competition," saying this requires Canada to
increase its engagement with key allies and
international partners, coalitions, and
organizations. It also announced that Canada would
be making deliberate efforts to deepen
partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and across the
Arctic.
It does not take a wizard to understand this
means stepping up Canada's involvement in the
increasingly desperate attempts of its "key ally"
to impose its so-called rules-based international
order on the rest of the world, endangering peace
and security. It is about deepening Canada's
integration into the U.S. war machine through NATO
as it extends its reach into the Asia-Pacific and
beyond, engaging in dangerous provocations against
China and Russia. It is about escalating Canada's
interference in the affairs of sovereign nations
and peoples who refuse to bow to U.S. dictate by
opting for their own independent path to
development and defending it.
The intentions of the Trudeau government to stay
the course with a foreign policy that operates in
lockstep with the hegemonic agenda of U.S.
imperialism are being loudly trumpeted by its new
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly as well.
At a media briefing in Washington, DC following
her first meeting with U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken on November 12, Joly enthused that
a priority for both of them would be working
together "to protect and promote democracy and
human rights around the world." There have been
many examples of what this means in practice.
"Promoting Democracy" U.S.-Style in Nicaragua
and Venezuela
In a statement Joly issued on behalf of Canada in
response to the November 7 general election in
Nicaragua in which electors overwhelmingly
reaffirmed their support for the Sandinista
Revolution and its leader, President Daniel
Ortega, Joly arrogantly told the Nicaraguan people
the election did not reflect their will, that "the
regime" had robbed them of their right to vote in
free and fair elections. Other unfounded
accusations and slanders against President Ortega
followed. The statement concluded that Canada
intended to hold "the oppressive regime and its
enablers" to account.
 A week later the
Trudeau government announced it was expanding its
so-called targeted sanctions to include eleven
more individuals linked to the Nicaraguan state
and government, allegedly for human rights
violations. In doing so Canada followed the lead
of the U.S. Congress which just days before the
election passed the Reinforcing Nicaragua's
Adherence to Conditions for Electoral Reform (RENACER)
Act to step up its unilateral coercive
measures in a crude attempt to influence the
elections. The U.S. legislation specifically calls
for increasing the coordination of such measures
with the European Union and Canada.
More dirty work closely coordinated with the U.S.
took place at the 51st General Assembly of the
Organization of American States (OAS) held
November 10-12. There, Joly took the lead in
presenting, on behalf of the U.S., Canada and six
other countries, a draft resolution which declared
that the November 7 elections in Nicaragua "were
not free, fair or transparent and had no
democratic legitimacy."[1]
One of the things the powers that be at the OAS
could not forgive Nicaragua for was undoubtedly
its refusal to permit an OAS observer mission to
oversee its November 7 election. Reasons for this
were the organization's non-stop meddling in the
country's internal affairs the past few years and
the malicious role the OAS played in instigating
the 2019 coup in Bolivia by raising baseless
allegations that Evo Morales had been
re-elected through fraud. Subsequent scrutiny by
independent investigators of the data collected
and interpreted by the OAS observer mission has
consistently shown there was no fraud, and that
Morales did not "steal" the election as the
nefarious OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro
declared to everyone who would listen.
Having its election deemed illegitimate by the
OAS was the last straw for Nicaragua. Like
Venezuela had done four years earlier, it
announced on November 19 that it was withdrawing
from the OAS. In a statement Foreign Minister
Denis Moncada said Nicaragua was not interested in
being part of an interventionist organization that
has as its mission facilitating the hegemony of
the United States over the countries of Latin
America.
Nicaragua's decision to leave the OAS did not
stop Canada and the handful of other countries
that co-sponsored its resolution condemning
Nicaragua's election from requesting the convening
of a special session of the OAS Permanent Council
on December 8. The purpose was to adopt yet
another interfering resolution, this one as a
result of the "assessment of the situation in
Nicaragua" called for in the previous resolution.
The December 8 resolution, which was passed
without discussion, reminded Nicaragua that until
the required two-year process of withdrawing from
the OAS was completed its obligations to the
organization remained in force, as did its duty to
comply with its international human rights
obligations. It contained a shopping list of
demands and impositions for Nicaragua to comply
with, presumably to avoid expulsion from an
organization it had already said it is leaving,
but more likely to try and legitimate the
application of more coercive measures by countries
like the U.S. and Canada whenever they decide to
do so. One of the more outrageous demands on the
list, especially considering the sources, was that
Nicaragua implement the "comprehensive electoral
reforms as requested in previous resolutions and
in keeping with Nicaragua's obligations under
international law." Obviously Canada and others
who supported that pompous resolution feel not
only qualified to judge Nicaragua's electoral
system and laws, but feel no obligation themselves
to uphold international law when it comes to
respecting countries' sovereignty and not
interfering in their internal affairs.
Nicaragua's representative said his country
rejected the holding of the illegitimate session,
saying it represented a further attack against
Nicaragua and its people in violation of the UN
Charter, international law and the OAS's own
charter. In a statement delivered the same day,
Minister Moncada said Nicaragua's positions are
and have been clear, that "we are not a colony, we
are not slaves, we are not servants of anyone, of
any empire or of any government that believes
itself to be a power." Instead, he said, "We
accuse the OAS, which has no moral authority to
accuse anyone, because it is, with the United
States, in the words of Sandino, 'the den where
crimes, abuses and outrages are fabricated'
against all human, political, economic, climate,
and social rights, and against the freedoms that
our peoples claim and demand, with ever more
strength and determination."
 In Venezuela, which
is no longer an OAS member, the results of the
November 21 "mega-election," were not to the
liking of the U.S. and Canada either even though
there was ample participation by opposition
parties they support, including some that had
boycotted previous elections. Both the U.S. and
Canada issued statements shortly after the
election concluded, claiming it had been neither
"free" nor "fair." President Nicolás Maduro was
accused of every manner of crime and misdeed, even
the effects of the brutal U.S. sanctions that have
taken such a toll on the people of Venezuela. Both
governments asserted, without evidence, that the
election did not reflect the will of the
Venezuelan people, with Joly adding that Canada
stood by the opposition forces and their call for
an election that "reflects the true desires of the
Venezuelan people."
The Trudeau government has a lot to answer for to
the people of Nicaragua and Venezuela
and Canada for whom its foreign minister
presumes to speak when she simply parrots lines
left and right that originate with the U.S. State
Department.
Note
1. The resolution
was presented on behalf of Antigua and Barbuda,
Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, United States, and Uruguay. Antigua and
Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada,
Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,
United States and Uruguay voted in favour.
Nicaragua opposed it, while Belize, Bolivia,
Dominica, Honduras, Mexico, Saint Lucia, and
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines abstained. The
illegally credentialed representative of Juan
Guaidó, claiming to represent Venezuela, also
voted in favour. Saint Kitts and Nevis was
absent.
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 12 - December 12, 2021
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2021/Articles/M510122.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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