As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tries to secure his legacy in the last days of his ministry, his government's response to the threats of U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs is, in one way or another, presented as defence of Canada's "national interest," "economic security" or "national security." The facts show that this is not the case. The proposed schemes benefit narrow supranational interests which are clashing in the United States and, by extension, in Canada.

An important aim is to disinform public opinion by destroying the norms and standards the polity has used in the past as a measure to exercise judgement. This is one of the significant matters of concern facing the Canadian polity. It is devastating to the coherence of the body politic which is left rudderless, without orientation or direction. A polity requires publicly recognized standards and norms the people can count on to make judgements about the matters at hand. When definitions and regulations are given on a whim, secretly at the behest of narrow private forces which operate behind the scenes, the entire polity is left out of the discourse.

In the case of the Trudeau government's response to Trump's threats, they are all reactive. Consultations are limited to selected experts and those called stakeholders, whether from academia, think-tanks, business, media, labour and the like, who make up the Prime Minister's Council on Canada-U.S. Relations. Not only does the process leave the cartel parties which form "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in the Parliament out of the equation but, most importantly, the people and their concerns are left out of the discourse and decision-making. The opinions of the members of the polity are often silenced by subjecting them to polls which ask tendentious questions or when they are reduced to filling out surveys which only ask them to state their preferences between pre-selected choices.

This is very destructive to the cohesion of the body politic which tends to "drop out" for lack of an alternative of its own. The fact that the regulations, rules and arrangements feed the integration of the Canadian economy into the U.S. war machine makes the consequences of the U.S. President's striving to break all barriers to his ability to act with impunity very dangerous. Trump's striving is to impose even a military dictatorship if that is what it takes to make the U.S. the world's so-called indispensable nation which controls everything everywhere.

The response of the government of Canada and of various provinces reveals an embarrassing and humiliating picture of ministers and politicians who ask "How high?" when the U.S. administration commands them to jump. The most absurd is that these ministers and politicians say this is how to defend Canada's security and national interest.

The Trudeau government, claiming it is waiting to see what Trump will decide on March 4, has said that should the Trump administration proceed to impose tariffs, it will respond with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion of U.S. goods entering Canada. All the wheeling and dealing is done behind the backs of the people but what has been brought to light reveals a wretched sellout government in contempt of the right of Canadians to self-determination. The people want rule of law and the rights of the people to be upheld.

This is not what is happening. Following the convening of the First Ministers on January 15 to deal with Trump's tariff threat, a joint statement declared that “Canada is a proud and sovereign nation, committed to upholding its values and responsibilities on the global stage." Since then "upholding Canadian values" has been repeatedly invoked in speaking to U.S.-Canada relations as if Canada is made up of random individuals with random "Canadian values," informed by racism and social chauvinism and imbued with the spirit of the ruling elites.

Canada is a country made up of people from the four corners of the world as well as the nation of Quebec, the Indigenous nations, Inuit and Métis. The claims of the working class on society based on its role as the producer of all wealth, and of the people without whom Canada would not exist, are denied by the ruling circles and those with privileges who serve them within the cartel party system.

For Canadians, for Canada to have an international reputation in which they can take pride would require that the government stop paying the rich, including privatization, and increase investments in social programs as a first priority. Investments must improve the lives of the people, meet their needs and claims on society and the demands of the natural environment. Trade must be carried out on the basis of mutual benefit with trading partners. Canada must be a Zone for Peace. It must uphold international rule of law and actively oppose impunity, neo-colonial rule, occupation, apartheid and genocide. A modern Canada must take measures to establish a constitution that does not vest sovereignty in narrow private interests and a foreign monarchy.

An international reputation based on the sycophancy, fawning and obsequious behaviour displayed by federal government ministers, provincial premiers, leaders of the cartel political parties and their retinues is only admired by birds of a feather.

Social cohesion is forged by all those who fight for the recognition of the claims they are within their rights to make and achieve. It is not achieved by imposing the dictates of narrow private supranational interests and integrating Canada into the U.S. war machine. To lay claims on society for what belongs to the people by right, and to work out together how to provide these rights with a guarantee is what provides a people with dignity, pride and a way forward.

Shameless Pandering of Federal and Provincial Officials in Washington, DC

– Barbara Biley –

The performance of Canada's premiers who went to Washington, DC on February 11-12 to convince the Trump administration to reverse course on its announced tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from Canada was disgraceful. They took no stand against the outrageous attacks on Canada's sovereignty and threats of annexation, and tariffs that violate the terms of the existing Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Instead, according to a February 12 press release from the Council of the Federation, the stated aim of the Premiers' meetings was "to advocate for maintaining strong Canada-U.S. relations by addressing shared issues such as jobs and the economy, energy, critical mineral supply chains, border security and immigration."

Several of the premiers told reporters at a press conference before a humiliating meeting at the White House that they were in Washington to listen to what the administration wants from Canada and to explain the importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship and the economic harm of tariffs. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said that the trip was a "charm offensive ... making the case that the Canadian-American friendship has been the best in the world for decades and decades." Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said, "I think diplomacy is working. I think that the fact that we got a 30-day reprieve was because we agreed to work on the cross-border problem of fentanyl."

The humiliating meeting at the White House was organized by a U.S. lobbying firm the Council of the Federation is paying $85,000 a month to get them access to U.S. Senators, Congress people, and what are called stakeholders. This company produced Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative Affairs, Political and Public Affairs James Blair, and his Director of Personnel Sergio Gor to meet with the premiers at the White House.[1]

BC Premier David Eby said after the meeting that the meeting was "constructive" and "We had frank conversations about the 51st state comment where we underlined that was a non-starter."

Following the meeting Blair posted on X, "Pleasant meeting with the Premiers. To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state. We only agreed to share Premier Eby's comments. Further, we said the best way to understand President Trump's position is to take what he says at face value."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters after the meeting, "We had a very constructive conversation. We appreciate the Trump administration facilitating this literally in the last minute, and we're grateful we listened, we communicated, and we look forward to further conversations."

Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai told CTV that there is more that Canada can offer to appease Trump, including NORAD enhancements.

Federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc was also in Washington on February 12 and met with U.S. Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick at the White House, along with Canada's Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman. LeBlanc told reporters that the 90-minute meeting was "very constructive and positive." With regard to the threatened tariffs on steel and aluminum he said, "It's important to our economy, but it's also essential to their economy as well ... but we had a rather detailed conversation about those sectors, which I thought gave us an understanding of their concerns."

Despite talk that the premiers are resolved to appease Trump, since their trip to Washington, DC, two of Canada's premiers have resigned, citing their unwillingness to pursue this fight with the U.S. over tariffs and border security. On February 21, PEI Premier Dennis King "cited the recent fight against U.S.-imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, saying the political issues at play are not simple ones. He said it was best for him to hand the baton of leadership to someone who can take the provincial government further," CBC News reported. On February 25, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey also resigned referring to the possible trade war with the U.S. as one of the "blind sides" of his tenure. "We're looking at four years of erratic, crazy, bonkers behaviour by the President of the United States," Furey said at this resignation. "This is going to be a pervasive problem for Canadians for the next four years," he said.

Note

1. The meeting was arranged with the help of a U.S. consulting firm, Checkmate Government Relations hired by the Council of the Federation for U.S.$85,000 per month to represent it "on federal governmental relations matters in Washington, DC," as of February 1.

(CBC, Toronto Star, CTV)

Ontario Premier's Disgraceful Sellout
"Fortress Am-Can"

– Philip Fernandez –

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on January 8 what he called Ontario's plan to achieve "Am-Can" energy security and power economic growth on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. He said this was part of Fortress Am-Can, "a renewed strategic alliance between Canada and America that is a beacon of stability, security and long-term prosperity."

As current chair of the Council of the Federation representing the premiers of the provinces and territories, Ford presented his "Fortress Am-Can" plan to the U.S. as part of the Premiers' lobbying trip to Washington, DC in February. Responding to the Trump administration's demands for Canada to militarize the border and increase military spending, and its threats to impose tariffs on goods the U.S. imports from Canada and of annexation, Ford outlined a plan to form an Am-Can alliance to exclude Mexico, target China and put Canada's territory and resources at the disposal of the U.S. war machine.

Ford is an outspoken admirer of Trump and his agenda who publicly cloaks himself in the flag of nationalism in order to hoodwink the people and force them to support his "Fortress Am-Can." He is desperate to be accepted by Trump as a loyal henchman who can deliver Canada on a silver platter if only the U.S. drops its threats of tariffs.

In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on February 11, Ford outlined this appeal for deeper integration of Canada into the U.S. economy and military. He offered Canadian support for the wrecking agenda of the oligarchs appointed by Trump to restructure the U.S. state to achieve their hegemonic aims.

Addressing the assembled Canadian and U.S. business leaders and before outlining his "Fortress Am-Can," Ford praised "U.S. lawmakers [who are] leading the most ambitious economic realignment in the past 100 years. They're decoupling from China and its global proxies. Doing so will be no easy task. It will require long-term thinking. It will require dedication and, most of all, it will require friends and allies like Canada and Ontario. And I can tell you, Canada is here to help. Working together, Canada and the U.S. can be the richest, most successful, safest most secure two countries on the entire planet when we're working together."

This is the outline of "Fortress Am-Can" that Ford laid out for the Chamber of Commerce:

"We can usher in a new American-Canadian century, what President Trump calls the 'new golden age.' We do so by building Fortress Am-Can. Fortress Am-Can is a renewed alliance between America and Canada that's a beacon of stability, security and long-term economic growth on both sides of the border."

The master of free-loading, ripping off workers, corruption and pay-the-rich schemes promotes his anti-China agenda as follows:

"First, Fortress Am-Can promotes free, fair and balanced trade. Fair trade means fighting back against freeloaders that rip off workers by taking advantage of free trade agreements designed to protect jobs at home. I'm talking about China. Together let's put an end to Chinese transhipments through Mexico into American and Canadian markets. Every member of the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement needs to match or exceed U.S. tariffs on Chinese products. Electric vehicles, batteries, and in particular aluminum and steel all need matching tariffs. If they fail to do so, they should lose their seat at the table. I always say if you don't play fair in a deal, no matter if its business or politics, you should excuse yourself from the table. And let's protect against Chinese investment and ownership in strategically important sectors such as critical minerals and energy. Canada and the United States and Mexico all need strong robust investment review processes designed to block Chinese investments aimed at undermining our economies."

Ford uses all the buzzwords workers are familiar with because they are commonly used to attack the claims they are entitled to make as the producers of the wealth society depends on for its living. He says:

"Second, let's grow the Am-Can economy for Am-Can workers. Fortress Am-Can needs to take action to reshore supply chains, attract investments and bring good jobs back home for workers on both sides of the border. We do so by streamlining regulations to promote economic integration and by eliminating anti-worker anti-business taxes."

In the name of "national security," Ford is intent on selling out the birthright of the Indigenous Peoples which is not for sale and removing any impediments to the wrecking of the natural environment:

"Third we need to accelerate strategic resource development. I'm calling for a new Am-Can Critical Mineral Security Alliance, an alliance that invests and builds our American and Canadian critical mineral supply chains so we're less dependent on China, on Russia and other countries that don't share our democratic values. As we do, we need to speed up regulatory approvals. Fortress Am-Can will designate areas where multiple critical minerals are present or likely to be present, including the Ring of Fire in Ontario, the largest critical mineral deposit in the entire world. As regions of strategic importance to the national security of Canada and the United States, these regions will be supported with a special approvals process that cuts down timelines to get minerals out of the ground, processed and shipped to factory floors, the same kind of necessary regulatory reform being led by the Trump administration."

Without revealing the terms of energy contracts already in existence between Ontario and the United States, which carry heavy penalties for non-delivery or untimely delays to the delivery of electricity, Ford is bandying threats about cutting energy supplies to the U.S. if it does not drop the demand for tariffs. Clearly, the devil is in the details which are kept hidden from the people. Ford declared:

"Fourth, we'll achieve Am-Can energy security to power Am-Can economic growth. Fortress Am-Can should be powered by Am-Can energy of every type, energy that is produced, consumed and creates jobs in every single region in both countries. I want to further integrate our energy and electricity grids. People don't realize ... we can deliver electricity from Ontario as far south as Florida with just a moment's notice. We can flick on the switch or flick off the switch. I prefer flicking on all the switches, and encourage more exports of Canadian energy and electricity to the U.S. to power your economic growth."

And more talk about "security" by coming under U.S. "protection" and criminalizing people crossing the border and demanding increasing military spending on NATO.

"Fifth, Fortress Am-Can will protect Am-Can land, air, Arctic, water and communities. Canada needs to demonstrate that we take our shared security seriously. It's not only what President Trump has asked, it's the right thing to do. It's why Ontario launched Operation Deterrence, working with fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, drones, off-road vehicles, boats and foot patrols, over 200 dedicated officers have already conducted over 10,000 hours of focused patrol to detect, disrupt and deter illegal cross border activity. Operation Deterrence has already led to hundreds of charges against illegal border crossers, against people smuggling illegal drugs, stolen vehicles and illegal firearms across the border. But when it comes down to it we need to do more. I'm urging Canada's federal government to pass strict new mandatory minimum sentences and other reforms so any thug convicted of trafficking fentanyl or illegal drugs gets thrown in jail for good. That's it. They're gone. They're done. Ontario and the federal government will also work together to get at the root cause of drug smuggling. We'll audit any bank, credit union or financial institution suspected of financing gangs or cartels.

"And finally, we will keep pushing our federal government to do its part by exceeding Canada's two per cent NATO defence spending commitment."

Ford's unapologetic integration of Canada into the U.S. war economy is in the service of oligarchs on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border and will cause great harm to the working people of Ontario, Canada and the U.S. Using language in a manner which gives it no meaning, he says:

"Friends, this is Fortress Am-Can. This is a way forward. It's a vision that respects each country as proudly independent and it celebrates what we can achieve together. Let's stop wasting time and energy and effort fighting each other, threatening tariffs that will only hurt workers, hurt businesses and cost more for families, hurting hard-working people just looking to get ahead in life. Instead, let's focus on restoring the pride of Made in the USA and Made in Canada. Let's be unapologetic as we stand up for American and Canadian workers. Today let's usher in the new American and Canadian century, a new golden age. Let's build Fortress Am-Can. Thank you and may God bless the people of America and may God bless the people of Canada."

This is the agenda for which Ford claims he has received a mandate from the people of Ontario. It is all fraud. He has no such mandate. For workers, women, youth, Indigenous Peoples and all those whose voices are silenced, the fitting response is to step up the fight in defence of the right to health care and education, housing and, above all, the right of the working people of Ontario and Canada to set the direction of the economy and decide on all matters that affect their lives.

Quebec Premier's Attempts to Undermine Discussion Which Favours a Modern, Sovereign and Independent Quebec

– Christine Dandenault –

On January 28, the Quebec National Assembly resumed its work in the midst of the hysteria surrounding the threats of Donald Trump against Canada and, by extension, also Quebec. It is also meeting in the context where workers, as well as communities across Quebec, are rising up against the measures adopted by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government that is intensifying the restructuring of the state for the benefit of narrow oligarchic private interests.

Quebec Premier François Legault has been making grand statements presenting himself as the champion of Quebec's economy, sovereignty and security by calling on Quebeckers to "stick together" in the face of Trump's threats of imposing tariffs and annexing Canada. Yet what the premier is actually doing is genuflecting before Donald Trump, as are federal ministers, other premiers and territorial leaders. He is proposing other ways to pay the oligarchic narrow private interests that dictate government policy in Quebec, as in the United States. He hopes to be dubbed by King Donald as a great knight.

While the people of Quebec are discussing how to deal with the new Trump administration in the U.S. and what is emerging from our relations with it, the facts speak for themselves. The announcement by Amazon that it is closing its warehouses in Quebec with complete impunity has intensified this discussion and fueled the anger of Quebec workers. The economic dependence of Quebec and Canada on others is flagrant and has increased in recent years.

Many of the flagships of the economy have been sold to private U.S. interests. According to the Quebec Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy, from 2019 to 2022, under the CAQ government, 222 Quebec companies were sold to foreign interests. From 2015 to 2018, under the Liberal government, 223 companies were sold to foreign interests. We are talking about Opsens, Logitec, Rona, Cirque du Soleil, etc. Our electricity is sold at a discount and is in the process of being privatized, our natural and mineral resources are exploited for the United States war machine, and so on. All of this is of great concern to Quebeckers. It highlights the accelerated level of domination of the economy by foreign oligarchs and monopolies, mainly U.S., and the need for a modern, sovereign and independent economy for Quebec.

It is up to the people to propose a nation-building project, to be masters of their own home once and for all! It is the people who must decide!

Like Trump Legault Seeks to Get Away with Impunity

Trump is not the only one using prerogative powers to break constitutional limits on his ability to act with impunity. Qualitatively speaking, Premier François Legault is doing the exact same thing when it comes to serving narrow private interests.

For several weeks, Legault has been trying to pull off a coup by presenting himself as a businessman like Trump and as a champion of Quebec's economic interests and saviour of the Quebec people from the giant to the south. For their part, the cartel parties in the National Assembly and their leaders are overexcited while the media are busy publishing polls on which party Quebeckers allegedly support, even though an election is not due until 2026. The cartel parties held caucuses before the National Assembly reconvened but those were to establish their partisan intervention strategy, assessing their chances of rising in the polls. In all of this, the people and the needs of Quebec are absent.

One thing is clear, Quebec workers and organizations concerned about the social and natural environment will continue to contest the absence of the people in decision-making. Rallies, actions, strikes, pickets, stands and statements demanding what belongs to them by right and for an economy that meets their expectations will continue. After adopting several anti-people bills in the fall, the government tabled other bills at the very end of the fall parliamentary session that go in the same direction, including Bill 69, An Act to ensure the responsible governance of energy resources and to amend various legislative provisions, which aims at nothing less than the privatization of Hydro-Québec, known as the jewel of the Quebec economy. Since it was tabled, many organizations and community groups from across Quebec have been opposing both the privatization of Hydro-Québec and all the wind turbine projects that are disrupting their lives. Their investigation shows that they are the ones who will pay for these turbines!

New job cuts and restrictions imposed by Santé Québec since January have aroused anger and opposition to this accelerated offensive against health care workers and the public health care system. Santé Québec which is demanding cuts of $1.5 billion from the health care system spent nearly $2 million in six months on external consultants, not to mention the astronomical salaries managers receive.

The 12,000 workers at 400 early childhood centres have held three one-day strikes, on January 23, February 6 and February 17 to demand what they need to be able to take care of the children. Improving their wages and working conditions is at the heart of their demands.

Quebec childcare workers picket, February 17, 2025

The staff working in the Cree and Kativik school boards, members of the Association of Employees of Northern Quebec, held a four-day strike from January 16 to 21 in support of their demands for a collective agreement that guarantees them working conditions and wages that are acceptable to them.

On January 22, hundreds of artists held a third rally, this time in front of Premier Legault's office in Montreal, to demand investments in culture and for an end to their impoverishment.

Since the beginning of January, the voices of Quebeckers have been heard denouncing the announcement by the Administrative Tribunal that rents could increase this year by up to 5.9 per cent. The housing crisis is a national shame and housing is a right, not a privilege, and there are many collectives defending the right to housing, opposing this new attack on workers, families and the most vulnerable.

Demonstrations in support of the Palestinian resistance continue week after week, each demanding that Quebec and Canada cease all support for and participation in the genocide of the Palestinian people, including the closure of the Quebec government office in Tel Aviv.

Montreal demonstration in support of Palestine, February 15, 2025

All these battles are crucial to establish a new direction for a modern Quebec nation that defends the rights of all. This is its agenda, Trump or no Trump, Legault or no Legault.

(Photos: PMLQ, CSN, PYM)

Nothing Can Justify Legault Government's Further Sellout of Quebec Resources

– Georges Côté –

On February 4, the Quebec National Assembly held an "emergency debate" on the imposition of tariffs by the United States. It is clear from the transcript that the main objective of this debate was to take the initiative away from those calling for a new direction for Quebec. All cartel parties presented "solutions," each more pretentious than the previous, but all with the common aim of pursuing the economic direction that has brought us to where we are today, having fully abandoned nation-building and fully integrated into the war economy of the United States.

The debate was opened by Premier François Legault, who spoke of the need to "redeploy the economy in a new way" and put to work "our beautiful institutions [of the] Quebec model."[1]

He said that "we have a duty to undertake a great, long project to make our economy less dependent on the United States," and in Quebec "we are fortunate to have powerful state instruments, with the Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement."

What he doesn't mention is that the larger part of the assets of the Caisse de Depot et de Placement du Québec (CDPQ) are invested in the U.S., and that neither the CDPQ's administrators nor the government have any intention of changing that. The CDPQ managed $434 billion in assets as of the end of 2023. It is the second biggest investment fund in Canada. Its assets are the pension and retirement plans of Quebec workers, but it invests only 20 per cent of it in Quebec, compared with 38 per cent in the United States. CDPQ President and CEO Charles Emond confirmed in an interview with Radio-Canada on February 6 that the fund has no intention of "redeploying" its investments "in a new way." According to him, investing in U.S. companies brings a higher return than in Quebec, and the CDPQ's primary mission is "to seek the optimal return on depositors' capital," not to ensure Quebec's economic development.

Indeed, between 1997 and 2003, as part of the anti-social offensive, successive Quebec governments gradually changed the CDPQ's mission. Its primary mandate at the time of its creation was to support the economic development of Quebec, which mostly meant investing in education, health care and other social programs. The mandate was first broadened in 1997 by the Parti Québécois government to allow it to invest the majority of its assets in equities, including abroad. Then in 2003 the Liberal Party government definitively changed the CDPQ's mandate to make national economic development a second- or third-order objective.

The story of how all this came about, from the early 1960s to the present day, reveals that, despite the slogan of the Quiet Revolution, the people of Quebec have never been "masters in their own home." All decisions have been taken by governing elites in the service of powerful private interests, and that's what's happening now too.

To be "masters in their own home," the people of Quebec need to bring about a renewal of the political process that vests the people with sovereign decision-making power, and deprives powerful private interests and their political representatives of the power to subjugate everything to their own interests.

Note

1. The "Quebec model" refers to the Quebec version of the welfare state built during the so-called Quiet Revolution to strengthen state-monopoly capitalism. The state directly paid monopolies by expanding public health and education systems, large-scale unionization, major hydro-electric projects and the creation of public funds from pension plans to finance national economic development.

But all this was destroyed long ago. What is called the Quebec model was sacrificed when debt servicing demanded by the financial oligarchy fuelled the economic crisis and defunding of social programs and pay-the-rich schemes took over when oligarchic interests directly took over the decision-making powers of the state. The large private interests who profited immensely began to blame the welfare state for all society's ills. This led to the anti-social offensive that began in the 1980s, when society abandoned any notion of responsibility towards its members. François Legault is the latest in a succession of Quebec premiers who have presided over state disinvestment of health and education, accelerated the sell-off of natural resources, and privatized all sectors that offer opportunities for private profit at the expense of any societal pretensions.

Federal Removal of Interprovincial Trade Barriers Another Usurpation of Power

– Pierre Soublière –

The power-sharing arrangements between the federal and provincial levels of government are set in Canada's British North America Act 1867. They are brought forward in the 1982 patriated version which includes an amending formula and Charter of Rights and Freedoms but maintains all sections which disempower the people along with the federal-provincial power-sharing arrangements based on conditions of a time long past. These arrangements need modernizing to bring them on par with 21st century realities. Instead of putting the matter into the hands of an elected Constituent Assembly, federal and provincial levels of government use their positions of power and privilege to serve specific oligarchic interests, all in the name of high ideals.

For some time now, the elimination of interprovincial trade barriers has been a topic of intense discussion among political and economic elites. Today, under the pretext of reducing Canada's dependence on the United States, talk about facilitating east-west trade, diversifying trading partners, and so on, is once again being bandied about while arrangements are being made behind the backs of the people.

On February 21, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Anita Anand, "announced the upcoming removal of an additional 20 federal exceptions in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), reducing the number of federal exceptions from 39 to 19. The majority of exceptions removed relate to government procurement, providing Canadian businesses greater opportunity to compete across the country," a federal government press release says.

"This action builds on the federal government’s demonstrated leadership in strengthening commitments under the CFTA. In July 2024, the Government of Canada announced the removal or narrowing of 17 of its CFTA exceptions. Together, these successive reviews represent the removal of 64 per cent of the Government of Canada’s exceptions in the Agreement since it launched in 2017," the press release says.

The Government of Canada "is encouraging all provinces and territories to take similar steps to reduce their own exceptions under the CFTA," the press release further states.[1]

The facts show that whatever measures are being taken have little, if anything, to do with the alleged national objectives which are spoken about.

Among these discussions about interprovincial trade barriers, one of the recommendations put forward by what are called "expert groups" such as those participating in the Public Policy Forum is: "We need to accelerate the 340 energy projects and 138 mining projects, with a combined value of $627 billion that are being built in Canada." The "expert groups" also talk about resurrecting the Energy East pipeline project, a 4,600 kilometre pipeline which would carry crude oil from Alberta to an export terminal in Saint John, and another project which would see a pipeline extended from northern Ontario to transport Alberta natural gas to the port of Grande-Anse in Saguenay, where an LNG liquefaction plant would be built. The Saguenay project has already been overwhelmingly rejected by the people of Quebec, largely because of the predictable damage to the natural environment as well as its harm to the well-being of the people.

In a press scrum at the Quebec National Assembly on February 5, Benoît Charrette, Minister of the Environment, the Fight Against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, affirmed that his government would be open to studying an improved version of the latter project and that the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) had always had "a favourable prejudice towards it."

But people will no longer accept the project to make life easier for fossil fuel producers in the name of diversification. When it comes to defending the natural and social environment, No! Means No!

As for the 138 mining projects, most of them are for the extraction of critical minerals. Recently, the media were abuzz over Justin Trudeau's statement that the U.S. "wants our critical minerals," to which we can only reply: "No kidding, Justin!"

In 2020, the federal Liberal government signed, among other things, the "Canada-U.S. Joint Action Plan," followed by the "Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership on Critical Minerals." These agreements are fully in line with the 1956 Canada-U.S. Defence Production Sharing Agreement, which aims to develop an integrated "North American defence" supply chain, making Canada an integral part of the U.S. defence industrial base.

To clear up any ambiguity on this point, in January 2025, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) website carried a report which quotes Adam Burstein, a DoD official, saying "Secure sourcing of critical minerals is critical to the defense industrial base, which uses them to produce virtually every Defense Department system, from unmanned aerial systems and fighter jets to submarines." Burstein adds that the Defense Department is embarking on a five-year rare earth investment strategy to consolidate its domestic capacity, saying that there is only one operating rare earth mine currently in the United States and that the UK and Australia have been added to Canada as "domestic sources."

That says it all!

The fact that the Pentagon invests in critical minerals came to light last year when the people of western Quebec learned that the U.S. military was funding the Lomiko Metals graphite mine at La Loutre. Local communities strongly condemned U.S. interference in Quebec for military purposes and the fact that, for years, Lomiko Metals and the Quebec government had promoted the mine as essential to the energy transition and electrification of the transportation sector. They denounced this dishonest ploy. They said that they had been led to believe that the destruction of their natural environment was the price to pay for a transition to renewable energy to save the planet, when in fact the opposite is true: the mining project supports militarism that accelerates environmental destruction.

As for other "barriers" that could be targeted in this move, some have raised the supply management system for eggs, poultry and dairy products, which has always been in the sights of the oligarchs in the U.S.

People won't be fooled by this renewed neo-liberal offensive and increased integration into the U.S. war machine in the name of lofty ideals.

Note

1. Government of Canada's "Quick Facts"

- Last year, more than $530 billion worth of goods and services moved across provincial and territorial borders, representing almost 20 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

- The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) came into force on July 1, 2017, to reduce and eliminate barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, services, and investments within Canada and to establish an open efficient, and stable domestic market.

- The CFTA seeks to establish an open, efficient, and stable domestic market. The CFTA exceptions are portions of the agreement that can be taken by federal, provincial or territorial governments, to exclude an industry, sector, or legislation from the agreement. Canadian business and industry have expressed that these exceptions can hinder free trade by allowing for inconsistent rules, standards, and licensing requirements for goods, investments and services. Leaders, such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, note that reducing the number of exceptions in the CFTA will help strengthen internal trade and support the productivity of Canada’s economy.

United States

Conflicts Among Oligarchs Intensifying

As the coup by U.S. oligarchs to remove any barriers to seizing federal funds and restructuring the state to further usurp power, and to remove any accountability for their impunity, is being consolidated, the fierce conflicts among them are also evident. As power is concentrated in even fewer hands economically and politically into the Office of the President, some lose out. The battle is ongoing, and the oligarchs must contend with the fact that the existing institutions with their means to sort out such conflicts short of open civil war no longer function. Elections, dividing up the budget among the contending forces, using Congress to make deals, dividing up Congressional committee spots as sources of power, all have failed.

One recent example was the fight within the Office of the President concerning who decides what federal workers do. President Donald Trump demanded, and Elon Musk promoted, that federal workers provide an email listing five things they had done in the past week or lose their jobs. Immediately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) refused. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote, "The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures." The State Department, Pentagon and Homeland Security all made similar statements. Each asserted their authority over their workforce.

Patel is also now head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). While the FBI is independent of any other agency, the ATF, like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), is part of the Justice Department. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service and the Coast Guard are all part of Homeland Security.

In the civil war conditions that exist, control and command of the many federal policing agencies are critical. Part of this latest effort by Trump, which appears only directed at federal workers, is also to identify who will and will not submit among the various authorities. On this issue, so far at least, there is refusal and contention. Such control and dictate are also why Trump has ordered the FBI, ATF, and DEA to work with ICE in attacking, detaining, and deporting immigrant workers and families. He is working to establish his sole authority over these forces and put in place different norms and standards for their activities.

Trump is also going after the military, which not only has conflicts with the president but within its own forces -- Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and now Space Force -- which all contend with each other. The Navy and the military monopolies that back it, is the main one pushing for use of massive bombing raids in war, as occurred in the genocide of Gaza and Iraq for example.

On February 21, Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of the Navy, having previously fired the head of the Coast Guard. The open racism and chauvinism were evident in that the firings involve a Black man and two women. He also fired the top judge advocates general (JAG) for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

The JAG officers are the military's lawyers and legal experts, responsible for ensuring the Uniform Code of Military Justice is followed by commanders, a mechanism that is supposed to prevent war crimes. Given Trump is moving to illegally use the military inside the country, both sides of the border and conduct additional aggression against Mexico, Canada, Panama, Greenland, and more, JAG officials are seen as a barrier. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth openly said the firings were necessary because Trump did not want JAG to pose any "roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief."

While Trump is acting to seize more control, the peoples are stepping up their struggles against war and increasing attacks on social programs, workers, and immigrant communities. Their demands are to not only abolish ICE but all these policing agencies, to close all U.S. military bases and demilitarize the border and cities across the country. Unity and united actions are growing stronger, and it is this collective organized resistance of the people that the oligarchs are most worried about.

Historic Battle to Determine Who Is
"We the People"

– Kathleen Chandler –

Chicago, February 5, 2025

As the U.S. oligarchs blatantly implement their coup, acting with impunity to restructure the state, dismantle departments, impose collective punishment and remove any barriers to their rule and to seizing federal funds, the people across the country are taking their stand to say, "This is not my president. This is not my America." These oligarchs include, along with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos of Amazon; billionaire Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick, now Secretary of Commerce; and billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, now Secretary of the Treasury; and many more. The Commerce Department deals with tariffs and trade, and the Treasury Department with federal payments, printing money and collecting taxes, among other activities.

The Treasury, along with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), plays a key role in freezing and seizing already appropriated federal funds, a key area where the struggle of "who is we the people" is unfolding. It is also where anger with Congress is increasing, as these members of the cartel parties refuse to defend their constitutional role of power over the purse. Funds are provided for definite purposes, and the oligarchs are acting to seize them and use them for their own narrow interests and benefit.

This refusal by Congress, alongside the blatant impunity, corruption and fraud of "efficiency" is further exposing and confirming for the people that the existing institutions have failed and cannot be repaired. It is no accident that there are not signs in actions across the country that say defend the constitution or elect new officials. Instead they say Defend Immigrant Rights; Unions=Rights; We Won't Back Down; and Not My President, Not My Democracy. The peoples are defining themselves from the point of view of rights and building resistance, not from the point of view of the oligarchs.

As many recent demonstrations show, the peoples are standing up together to defend the rights of all. There were two actions in the first three weeks of February that took place in cities in every state -- which requires tremendous organizing; a third action, a Day Without Immigrants, was held in many cities in every region of the country; and many more continue to be held by teachers, health care workers, federal and other public sector workers. Thousands of people from many walks of life and political persuasions have continued to march regularly in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and elsewhere to defend immigrant rights, oppose job cuts and demand funding for education and social programs. A #HumanNeed campaign has been launched demanding human rights, jobs, aid for Gaza and the closure of military bases.

Durham, NC, February 9, 2025, Day Without Immigrants

A feature of these many actions is their broad unity, bringing together organizations from many fronts of struggle and people from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, religions, nationalities, regardless of who they voted for in the recent presidential election. This last is evident in rallies of thousands of people in places where Trump got more votes, such as Omaha, Nebraska and Iowa City, Iowa. These actions have been spearheaded by Senator Bernie Sanders under the banner Fight Oligarchy. Given the widespread consciousness that what is taking place in the United States is a coup by the oligarchs and that those who occupy positions of power in the Trump administration in no way represent the people, Sanders has acknowledged: "It's not just Republican billionaires; it is Democratic billionaires. It is the corruption of the two-party system."

Attacks on federal and public sector workers are a key part of the actions by the oligarchs to eliminate the unionized workforce and those experienced in providing social services and who know their rights. Young probationary workers are also being targeted. The current raids against immigrants are in part an effort to divide and undermine the militancy of the workers. This effort is also failing, as is evident in the many actions to defend those under attack and intervene against the policing agencies.

Federal public sector workers rally in Washington, DC, February 11, 2025.

Now these oligarchs are targeting the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) with plans to remove its independent status, eliminate its governing board, and place it under the Commerce Department, meaning directly under presidential rule. This comes after postal workers organized widely for a no vote and soundly rejected the contract proposed, with its insulting 1.3 per cent wage increase, worsening safety, and other attacks. The vote by members of the National Association of Letter Carriers was 63,680 to reject the contract versus 26,304 to accept it.

Everywhere there is rejection of the existing set-up, not only because it brought Trump to office, but more so because the constitution and Congress have not stopped the oligarchs and their impunity. They are the ugly face of U.S.-style democracy today, and not one accepted by the peoples.

The people of the U.S. are organizing to develop their own agenda and unite on their own demands as they battle to say "we the people" is not that of the constitution -- not that of men of property and slaveholders then; not that of these oligarchs today. The U.S. people, as a people, have been forged in battle, in taking up the necessity for change. And it is the people who are coming forward now as the makers of history. They are putting to rest the notions that the people are divided and indeed that a people does not exist but only groups of individuals of various identities. The resistance is showing otherwise.

Rapid Response Teams Build United Actions

An important expression of the people showing that they are deciding who and what defines "we the people," is the many dozens of Rapid Response teams across the country, including in Atlanta, Georgia; New York City and Buffalo; Chicago; Tucson, Arizona; Seattle and many more. Thousands of people are organizing to demand an end to deportations and detentions, protecting people from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and empowering communities through Know Your Rights training and organized resistance. Students, workers, retirees, people of many faiths, teachers, health and legal service providers, unions and others are meeting and mobilizing to protect immigrants and communities through collective actions. Store owners in the communities are joining in.

Know Your Rights materials are printed and widely distributed in many languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. This all reflects the internationalist spirit of the U.S. working class and people, and their recognition and respect for the many people from all over the world who have become one with the U.S. working class and people. ICE, itself, does not provide translators during their raids. Many times they come in unmarked cars and plain clothes, armed and masked to terrorize the community. Other times they come in full riot gear with a dozen agents to stop one or two people. The Rapid Response teams often intervene directly. "Border Czar" Tom Homan admitted they are "making it very difficult" to arrest people.

The Rapid Response teams in Tucson are representative of those established elsewhere. Tucson is about 100 miles from the border, in the desert and already militarized. Part of the work there is to provide water and shelter for people trying to cross the desert from the border and get to safety. Their Rapid Response teams have people from different rights, anti-war and Palestinian groups participating and coming to meetings every week. There are church people involved with some churches providing sanctuary. There are a lot of students who participate, as well as lawyers who offer their support. These teams provide a convergence point, a space for discussion and building broad unity and determination to defend rights and counter government actions to criminalize and terrorize communities. In this manner they are showing in life who and what we the people are.

Another example of who and what define "we the people" is the stand of teachers, staff and students to block ICE from entering public schools. After the U.S. branded the cartel gangs they fund and arm as "terrorists," Czar Homan claimed targeting schools was necessary saying, "How many MS-13 members are the age 14 to 17? Many of them." Trump's order said, "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest." As the raids take place, it is clear who the criminals and threats to safety are.

The resistance is such that school and university officials are joining in to block ICE, including by providing training and distributing Know Your Rights materials and closing the doors. Teachers' unions are in the forefront. School Districts, like those in Chicago, Indianapolis, and elsewhere are publicizing that they will not allow ICE into the schools.

The Denver Public Schools, with more than 90,000 students, is suing the Department of Homeland Security and demanding ICE be blocked. Within the movement the demand is to abolish ICE outright with many now targeting all these federal policing agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that have caused great harm to the people. The many statements and letters to Congress and lawsuits show the depth of opposition. Doctors for America, the National Parents Union, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a suit by 27 religious groups (including the Mennonite Church, the Episcopal Church and the Central Conference of American Rabbis), the American Civil Liberties Union, and many immigrant rights, anti-war and pro-Palestinian organizations and others are taking their stand. When the oligarchs announced that funding for lawyers would no longer be provided to unaccompanied children contending with immigration court, within 48 hours more than 15,000 letters were sent to Congress. The outrage across the country was such that the funding and lawyers were reinstated.

The various actions by the oligarchs to freeze and seize funds, and to lay off and fire workers are main ways for the Office of the President, which includes the cabinet and federal policing agencies, to control the purse strings. Control of the federal budget by Congress remains a main barrier and these actions are to put more control in the hands of the executive. Trillions of dollars are at stake. It is also to establish acceptance of the presidency determining how funds are used, with the repeated argument given that funding must reflect the priorities of the president. This is the oligarchs' way of saying that "we the people" is not Congress -- supposedly the elected representatives of the people -- but the rulers and their representative, the president. Impunity on this front will no doubt continue, with various mechanisms used. It is a main front of struggle for the people that brings to the fore the need for new institutions and constitutions to reflect the pro-social anti-war agenda of the people.

Imposing cuts to programs and mass layoffs and firings are part of the effort to use such funds for militarization, at the border and in the cities. Various executive orders are being used to both seize funds and put in place the use of the military at the border, against Mexico and possibly Canada, and inside the country, which is outlawed. The notion that there is an "invasion" by immigrants taking place is promoted by the oligarchs to justify their armed invasion of communities across the country.

The joint policing exercises that bring ICE, the DEA, ATF, and FBI together, along with military troops, are an effort to establish a single command structure and submission to the dictate of the presidency. However, the long-standing contention and competition among them remains, as does the fierce competition and civil war conditions among the oligarchs themselves. They are not a united force but rather increasingly divided as they strive for more power. This was evident when Trump called on federal workers to list five things they had done, and the FBI, State Department, and Pentagon told workers not to do so. Conflicts within the executive and between it and the military reflect those among the oligarchs with their narrow private interests.

With existing structures no longer able to mitigate and resolve conflicts and with the people no longer accepting that what is going on is a democracy they stand for, regional and state-level conflicts are increasing and getting sharper. States are among those filing lawsuits and rejecting presidential authority while the peoples are steadfastly speaking out in their own name.

Battle for a Democracy of the Peoples' Own Making

The battle for a democracy of the people's own making is also advancing. There is not acceptance of waiting two years for the next election and the false promise of change. What is coming to the fore is that among the rights that most needs to be exercised is that of being decision-makers. The experience from Rapid Response teams, joint meetings, webinars and mass actions in every state is underscoring that the peoples have solutions but lack the political power to implement them. And this is as true for international issues like opposing genocide and defending Palestine as it is for self-defense in communities and education to change the world in the schools.

Recently Trump has been putting forward that he is King, and a lot of attention is being given to that. People are rightly denouncing having a King rule, a tradition from the start of the country. They are rightly refusing to be diverted from the problem that it is the oligarchs and their plans for military rule and repression that are crucial. The "we the people" battling to rule is that of the working class and people of the country. Nothing less will be accepted.

Increasingly consciousness is such that relying on the courts or Congress and existing institutions is no solution. The broad and repeated experience with the existing set-up has eliminated illusions and brought to the fore that the peoples, relying on their own organized efforts, uniting in common for their agenda and demands, is what is needed and in fact being developed. Further building united actions, speaking in our own names for our own agenda and rights, not allowing elected officials to speak for us, defiantly resisting attacks and developing our own independent media and political actions will advance this battle to determine that it is we, the working class and people, who must govern and decide.

Existing mechanisms like Rapid Response teams and similar united organized forces can be utilized as arenas to debate and discuss strengthening the battle for political empowerment. Already they show that the people can and must safeguard their communities and unite and decide steps needed to further advance the fight for the rights of all.

The fight for political empowerment is integral to the fight for rights and one that is essential for "we the people" to become the decision-makers and govern and decide all matters of concern, developing our own anti-war, pro-social institutions and government. The time is now for defiance and building the organized resistance.

(Photos: ydr, paul_goyette, @samborgen.bsky.social, @psltrianglenc, AM Claire Delaney)

Vigorous Rejection of Use of Prison at Guantánamo Bay
to Incarcerate Migrants

Cuba Rejects U.S. Decision

More than 50,000 Cubans gathered and raised high the Cuban flag in Guantánamo, February 26, 2025, demanding the U.S. relinquish its occupation and leave the Cuban territory it seized in 1903.

The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following statement on January 29.

Cuba rejects the decision announced by the President of the United States to use the Guantánamo Naval Base to imprison tens of thousands of migrants he has proposed to forcibly expel. It is a demonstration of the brutality with which that government is acting to supposedly correct problems created by the economic and social conditions of that country, the government's own management and its foreign policy, including hostility towards countries of origin.

Many of the people that the United States is expelling or intends to expel are victims of the government's own plundering policies and meet the labor needs that have historically existed in agriculture, construction, industry, services and various sectors of the U.S. economy. Others are the result of facilities at the border to enter the country, of selective, politically motivated regulations that welcome them as refugees, and also of the socioeconomic damage caused by unilateral coercive measures.

A significant portion contribute and have contributed to the economy of that country. They are employed, have homes, have created families and have planned their respective lives in the United States.

The territory where it is proposed to confine them does not belong to the United States. It is a portion of Cuban territory in the eastern province of Guantánamo, which remains militarily occupied illegally and against the will of the Cuban nation. This military installation is internationally identified, among other reasons, for housing a torture and indefinite detention center, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, where people have been held for up to 20 years who have never been judicially processed or convicted of any crime.

Its irresponsible use would generate a scenario of risk and insecurity in that illegal enclave and its surroundings; it would threaten peace and would lend itself to errors, accidents and misinterpretations that could alter stability and provoke serious consequences.

Cuban President Addresses Brutal U.S. Persecution and
Humiliating Deportations

Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic of Cuba, spoke at the closing ceremony of the Sixth International Conference for the Balance of the World held in Havana from January 25 to 31, 2025. In his speech, Díaz-Canel spoke eloquently about important matters, including the brutal persecution and humiliating deportations being conducted under the aegis of U.S. President Donald Trump's despicable program of deportations which egregiously violate human rights and the international rule of law. He also spoke about criminal U.S. plans to open a detention camp for deportees on the Cuban territory it seized 100 years ago to establish a naval base.

Addressing "the current of barbarism today visible in the apogee of greed and in the infinite pain caused by the greedy for their absolute disregard for human suffering," Díaz-Canel said:

"I speak first of all of the Palestinian holocaust at the hands of the Israeli government and those who feed that desire to kill, but also of the brutal persecution and humiliating deportation, handcuffed and chained, of thousands of migrants who have broken their backs under the whip of the economic imbalance that forced them to emigrate. From here, we demand that Palestine be free!

"And I speak, of course, of Cuba, hundreds of times a victim of terrorism, whose noble name has been included and re-included in an infamous list of alleged sponsors of terrorism, so that the obedient international banks close their doors to any commercial or financial management that contributes to the basic needs of the Cuban people.

"I am talking about Cuba, from which the United States stole a piece of land in the name of a friendship it never honoured by using that territory, illegally occupied for more than a century, as a military base and prison where people the empire declares enemies and guilty, most of the time without a single piece of evidence of their crime, are tortured and locked up in a legal limbo.

"As if this infamy, which has been condemned hundreds of times by international tribunals, were not enough, now we are told that 30,000 deportees will be sent to the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo. Once again the illegality, the disregard of international treaties, and the unacceptable idea that there are countries and people superior to the rest of humanity.

"In spite of all the sorrows, as we say here, and the presidential orders of the masters of the world, we will not remain silent in the face of infamy, nor will we lose confidence and faith in human betterment, future life and the usefulness of virtue."

(Granma International. Translations of quotations edited slightly for style and grammar by TML. Photos: Granma, Estudios Revolucion)

Prison for "Illegals" at Illegal Base on Foreign Soil

– Leidys Maria Labrador Herrera –

"In an act of brutality, the new U.S. government announces the imprisonment, at the Guantánamo Naval Base, located in illegally occupied Cuban territory, of thousands of migrants that it is forcibly expelling, who will be placed next to the well-known prisons of torture and illegal detention."

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, wrote on X after learning that the Guantánamo Naval Base -- which, in addition to being illegal, harbours unimaginable torture and violations of all kinds against human rights -- will now also be a detention centre for some 30,000 immigrants, as announced by President Donald Trump.

Although none of his controversial decisions have caused too much astonishment (coming from where they come from), it is still outrageous that he now intends to turn the territory -- which, as the whole world knows, does not belong to them -- into part of his strategy to remove from the United States thousands of people who have set foot in that country in search of the so-called American dream.

At the signing ceremony of the Laken Riley Act, Trump spoke about an executive order for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the facility for such purposes, without elaborating too much on the procedure by which the transfer will be executed.

Since his ascension, for the second time, to the presidential chair, the multimillionaire, known for his discriminatory anti-immigrant behaviour, has taken the harshest measures in favour of a "cleansing," which will have terrible consequences, even for unborn children.

In the midst of this context, the new announcement comes to light, which once again puts the Guantánamo Naval Base in the spotlight of international opinion. Many horrors have been committed there, from the kidnapping and murder of Cuban citizens, to serving as a crime and torture laboratory, under the justification of the war against terrorism. So far, the attempts, announcements and promises to close the prison located on the base have remained only in words and, evidently, it will not be now that they will do it.

What is certain is that, under the political-electoral pretext of a "cleansing of illegal people who have invaded the soil that does not belong to them," the champions of "freedom and human rights" have found a way out of the crisis they are creating for themselves, by transferring thousands of their deportees to that corner of Cuban land that the U.S. has usurped, in its shameless condition as an "illegal foreign government that has invaded the soil that does not belong to it."

(Granma International, January 30, 2025. Slightly edited for style and grammar by TML.)

80 Years of Cuba-Canada Diplomatic Relations

Friendship Between Canadian and Cuban
Peoples Affirmed

On January 15, a delegation from the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group was received at the National Capitol in Havana by Esteban Lazo Hernández, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and President of the National Assembly of People's Power (NAPP) and State Council. The meeting reaffirmed the commitment to expand and strengthen interparliamentary relations, as noted on the Parliamentary website.

Homero Acosta Álvarez, Secretary of the NAPP, highlighted the historical ties between Canada and Cuba and expressed a high regard for the relationship between the two countries.

He expressed appreciation for Canada's long-standing support of Cuba's UN resolution against the blockade imposed by the United States government. He praised the Parliamentary petition urging the Canadian government to ask the United States to lift the blockade against Cuba and to remove Cuba from the list of so-called State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Acosta Álvarez also discussed other relevant points on Cuba's national agenda, including ongoing discussions within the 10th legislature of the National Assembly and the parliamentary work in the largest country in the Caribbean.

Gabriel Ste-Marie is co-chairman of the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group and vice-president of the Standing Committee on Finance in the House of Commons. He emphasized that the goal of the organization is to develop new collaborative projects and opportunities to strengthen ties between the two peoples and their legislative institutions.

Other representatives from Cuba included Tamara Valido Benitez and Cristina Luna Morales, co-chairs of Health and Sports Services in the Cuban Parliament. Also in attendance were Alberto Núñez, vice-president of the NAPP's International Commission and Joel Ortega Dopico, vice-president of the Parliamentary Friendship Group. Jesús Rafael Mora González along with Sisay Caridad Poulot, who serve as the director and civil servant respectively for International Relations at the Cuban Legislative Assembly were also present at the meeting.

To view a video of the visit, click here.

January Events Highlight Friendship Between Peoples of Canada and Cuba

Montreal picket in support of Cuba, January 31, 2025

Also in January, events were held in Ottawa, Toronto and Quebec City to mark several important anniversaries for the Cuban people, that also highlighted the longstanding bonds of friendship between the peoples of Canada and Cuba.

Ottawa

In Ottawa on January 28, a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall was followed by a reception at the Cuban Embassy. These events commemorated Cuba's National Day -- the 66th anniversary of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1; and the 172nd anniversary of the birth of Cuban National Hero José Marti on January 28. They also marked the 80th anniversary of uninterrupted diplomatic relations between Canada and Cuba.

The day began at City Hall with various diplomats, members of the Cuban community and friends of Cuba gathered inside, where a representative of the Cuban Embassy, Indira Alonso, welcomed everyone. She then introduced Ottawa City Councillor Riley Brockington who, on behalf of Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, stated that Canada and Cuba are fortunate to share a strong commitment to open dialogue, cooperation, and the advancement of trade, investment and tourism. Brockington thanked the Cuban community for their contributions to the City of Ottawa over the years. On behalf of the Mayor, he received a baseball bat made by Canadian Bill Ryan, whose bats are used by Havana's baseball team the Industriales as well as throughout Cuba's National Baseball League.

Ottawa City Hall

With everyone outside in the square in front of City Hall, the Cuban flag was raised. The symbol of Cuban independence and resilience danced in the wind, framed by the brilliance of the January sun, as the national anthem of both countries was played.

At noon, the Cuban Embassy hosted a reception. There, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada Carolyn Knobel recognized how January 28 is a day of profound significance for the Cuban people. Referring to the hurricanes and earthquakes that have hit Cuba in the past year, she said, "Canada was there to stand by the Cuban people in these difficult times. As we look to the future, let us reaffirm our dedication to working together for the well-being of our citizens and to build a better future for both our nations."

Speaking at Reception at Cuban Embassy, from left to right: Global Affairs spokesperson Carolyn Knobel, Cuban Deputy Head of Mission Dany Tur de la Concepción, and Bloc Québécois MP for Joliette
Gabriel Ste-Marie.

Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc Québécois MP for Joliette and co-chair of the Canada-Cuba Parliamentary Friendship Group then read his speech in Spanish, much to the delight of everyone present. Ste-Marie said he was honoured to celebrate with the Cuban people their National Day and 80 years of diplomatic relations between Canada and Cuba. He spoke of the difficulties the Cuban people are facing due to the blockade and expressed his confidence that they will prevail. He also expressed his admiration for the strength, resiliency and determination of the Cuban people. He denounced the U.S. blockade and sanctions against Cuba and ended his speech with the words, Viva Cuba Soberana! (Long Live Sovereign Cuba!).

Ste-Marie also received a Bill Ryan baseball bat. Ryan reminded everyone that the MP was the initiator and sponsor of the 2024 parliamentary petition in support of Cuba. The petition called on the Government of Canada to take specific steps in opposing U.S. attacks on the heroic island nation, especially by directly requesting that the Government of the United States remove Cuba from the arbitrary and specious U.S. Department of State's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. The petition further called on the Government of Canada to ensure that Canada's relations with Cuba remain based on equality, mutual respect and support for the right to self-determination.

Upon receiving the baseball bat, Ste-Marie joked that maybe this would help bring the Expos back to Montreal.

On behalf of the Cuban Embassy, Dany Tur de la Concepción, Deputy Head of Mission, spoke at both events. He said that it was a great honour to participate in the flag-raising ceremony marking the three important anniversaries, and conveyed his gratitude for the hospitality the Cuban Embassy has received over the years from the City of Ottawa.

He pointed out that, in fact, the history of the ties between Canada and Cuba extends back more than three centuries. In particular, Cuba has never forgotten that following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 when efforts were exerted to isolate Cuba, the only countries of the Americas to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba were Canada and Mexico. He said that Canada is Cuba's largest source of tourism, with an average of over 1 million Canadians visiting the island every year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Cuba is working hard to restore those numbers in the shortest time possible. In 2024, he pointed out, Cuba received almost 40,000 tourists from Ottawa alone.

Tur also pointed out that Canada is the second largest source of investment in Cuba, with significant presence in key areas such as mining, oil, gas, renewable energy, agriculture and tourism, and that Canada rejects the U.S. policy of sanctions on the Cuban people. In this regard, he thanked Canada for voting in favour of Cuba's yearly resolution at the UN -- to end the inhumane and illegal U.S. blockade -- every year since the votes began in 1992.

Toronto

On January 8, more than 60 people took part in a ceremonial flag raising at the Ontario Legislature. Participants included members of the provincial parliament and the foreign diplomatic corps based in Toronto, the Juan Gualberto Gómez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto, solidarity organizations, political parties and other groups. It is the second year that the Cuban flag has been raised at Queen's Park. This year's celebration also marked the 80th anniversary of Cuba and Canada's formal uninterrupted diplomatic relations.

Consul General of Cuba in Toronto, Jorge Yanier Castellanos Orta, expressed his great appreciation to all present for coming out on a bitterly cold day to mark Cuba's National Day, the anniversary of the day when the rebel army led by Fidel Castro marched into Havana in 1959. This day marked the beginning of a new era in the history and lives of the Cuban people, a turning point at which the Cuban people themselves became the architects of their own destiny.

The Consul General highlighted that despite all the difficulties that the Cuban people have endured because of the brutal U.S. blockade, Cuba continues to stand proud, relying firmly on its principles and independence and, with the support of the Canadian and world's peoples, continues to move forward. He also underscored the close state-to-state and people-to-people relations between Canada and Cuba, noting that Canada did not break diplomatic relations with Cuba when the U.S. cut relations with Cuba after the Revolution. He expressed his hope that Canada will continue to strengthen its relations with Cuba in the coming years.

Following his presentation, he raised the Cuban flag to a blue Ontario sky as the Cuban national anthem was played and sung.

Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, brought the warm greetings of the Ontario government. He spoke of his many years living in Cuba, where he worked to strengthen economic relations between Canada and Cuba, and of his high regard for Cuba and the Cuban people. Minister Tibollo said he hoped that the positive relations between Ontario and Cuba and Canada and Cuba will grow stronger as they contribute positively to both countries. He presented the Consul General with a statement of appreciation from the Ford government to Cuba on this occasion.

Following Tibollo's presentation, Cuban consular staff read out messages of support from the Liberal and New Democratic Parties in the Ontario legislature.

Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Consular Corps in Toronto, the Consul General of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Fitzgerald Huggins, expressed great pleasure at being at the flag raising. He noted that Cuba is a highly respected member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). He spoke of the enormous contributions that Cuba has provided its Caribbean and Latin American neighbours. He said that Cuba is the best neighbour one could ever wish for and that it is Cuba that has always stepped up to offer support in areas of health care and education, and to respond to emergencies. He underscored that it was Cuba who provided vaccines during the COVID pandemic to the peoples of the Caribbean when "other large countries practiced vaccine diplomacy." He pointed out that CARICOM continues to demand the removal of the illegal embargo against Cuba and will continue to do so until it is lifted.

Vida Carranza, a youth representing the Juan Gualberto Gómez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto, expressed appreciation to the Ontario government for helping to organize the celebration. She said, "We feel very proud and humbled that the flag of Cuba flutters in the skies of Toronto. We recognize in this flag the symbol of our national and cultural identities. It represents the struggle for independence of the Cuban people." She said that Cuba's National Day is one of the most significant days in Cuba's history. It was the day that "the Revolution of the humble, by the humble and for the humble, had triumphed." She demanded that the inhuman U.S. blockade which stifles Cuba's development and violates the rights of all Cubans, including those living abroad, be ended. The demand was also made that the U.S. remove Cuba from its politically-motivated list of "state sponsors of terrorism."

The crowd lingered to talk with the Cuban Consul General and consular staff and to express their congratulations as well as their solidarity and support for Cuba and the Cuban people.

Quebec City

January 28 this year was the 172nd anniversary of the birth of José Martí, hero of Cuban independence. On this occasion, Susana Malmierca Benitez, Consul General of Cuba in Montreal, accompanied by activists from the Table de concertation Québec-Cuba went to lay flowers at the monument to José Martí located in the Parc de l'Amérique-Latine in Quebec City. The bust is a gift from the Republic of Cuba installed in the park in September 2007.

José Martí was the architect of the war of 1895 and the critical thinker of "the new republic" that would be established in Cuba after its independence, a republic "for all and for the well-being of all," which would be essential to curb the expansionism of its neighbour to the north. On the bust is written in French: "José Julián Martí y Perez was born in Havana (Cuba) on January 28, 1853. He died in combat in Los Rios (Cuba) on May 19, 1895. Author of a vast body of literary work, he organized and undertook the 1895-1898 war for the independence of his country. He is the national hero of the Republic of Cuba."

(Photos: TML, Cuban Embassy)

For Your Information

Major U.S. Role in International Drug Trafficking

On February 1, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled, "Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our Northern Border," that targets Canada with various tariffs unless it complies with U.S. demands. The order states that Trump finds "the sustained influx of illicit opioids and other drugs has profound consequences on our Nation, endangering lives and putting a severe strain on our health care system, public services, and communities.

"This challenge threatens the fabric of our society. Gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities. Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs." [...].[1]

Trump's assertion about Canada as a significant source of illicit drugs is not substantiated. "There is limited to no evidence or data from law enforcement agencies in the U.S. or Canada to support the claim that Canadian produced fentanyl is an increasing threat to the U.S.," Marie-Eve Breton, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told the New York Times on February 6. The Times writes that in 2024, "less than one per cent of the fentanyl arriving in the United States came from Canada," noting that last year, "about 19 kilograms of fentanyl was intercepted at the Canada-U.S. border."

Despite these facts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a February 11 press release "the appointment of Kevin Brosseau as Canada's new Fentanyl Czar, effective immediately." The use of "czars" is typical of U.S. political terminology. News media reported that Brosseau's official title is "Commissioner of Canada's Fight Against Fentanyl," which was not mentioned in Trudeau's press release.

According to Trudeau's press release, "As Fentanyl Czar, Mr. Brosseau will work closely with U.S. counterparts and law enforcement agencies to accelerate Canada's ongoing work to detect, disrupt, and dismantle the fentanyl trade. Mr. Brosseau brings extensive law enforcement experience, having served in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for over 20 years, including as Deputy Commissioner and top cop in Manitoba. Recently, as Deputy National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brosseau navigated Canada's most sensitive security challenges. His demonstrated expertise tackling drug trafficking, organized crime networks, and other national security threats will bring tremendous value to this position."

The press release continues, "Canada is taking significant action to stop the production and trafficking of illegal fentanyl. We are adding new and expanded detection capacity at border entries to find illegal drugs and guns and shorten cargo container processing time. We are building a Canadian Drug Analysis Centre to analyze illegal drug samples and identify where and how these drugs are manufactured. We are deploying new chemical detection tools at high-risk ports of entry, new canine teams to intercept illegal drugs, and a new Precursor Chemical Risk Management Unit to better track precursor chemicals and distribution channels....

"While less than one per cent of the fentanyl intercepted at the U.S. border comes from Canada, any amount of fentanyl is too much. With Canada's $1.3 billion border plan, we are reinforcing our strong border and stopping the fentanyl trade -- with new Black Hawk helicopters, drones, mobile surveillance towers, and nearly 10,000 frontline personnel working on protecting the border. As an important legal tool to enforce criminal investigations in Canada, we will also be listing organized crime cartels as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code. This listing will strengthen the RCMP's ability to prevent and disrupt cartel activities in our country.

"Last week, the Prime Minister signed a new intelligence directive, backed by $200 million in investment, that will give our security agencies more capacity to gather intelligence on transnational organized crime and share with our American partners and law enforcement across the continent. This complements joint law enforcement co-ordination efforts, including through the Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl, and money laundering."

Note

1. The order continues:

"Drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are the world's leading producers of fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other illicit drugs, and they cultivate, process, and distribute massive quantities of narcotics that fuel addiction and violence in communities across the United States. These DTOs often collaborate with transnational cartels to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States, utilizing clandestine airstrips, maritime routes, and overland corridors.

"The challenges at our southern border are foremost in the public consciousness, but our northern border is not exempt from these issues. Criminal networks are implicated in human trafficking and smuggling operations, enabling unvetted illegal migration across our northern border. There is also a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada. The flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl to the United States through both illicit distribution networks and international mail [...] has created a public health crisis in the United States. [...] Canada's Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre recently published a study on the laundering of proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, which recognized Canada's heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution. [... T]his failure to act on the part of Canada constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in substantial part outside the United States, to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

Targeting Mexico

The U.S. has also targeted Mexico not only on a basis similar to the February 1 executive order directed against Canada, but also through a January 20 executive order entitled, "Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists." This order declares drug cartels in Mexico "foreign terrorist organizations," and along with pending legislation, would authorize the use of U.S. military force in Mexico.

On February 3, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on social media, "We categorically reject the slander made by the White House against the Mexican government about alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any attempt to intervene in our territory. If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups."

Nonetheless, for its part, Mexico responded to the threat of U.S. tariffs by announcing on February 3 it would deploy 10,000 of its National Guard to its border with the U.S. to stop the trafficking of drugs into the U.S. The U.S. for its part is to stop the illegal trafficking of arms into Mexico, an agreement U.S. President did not even acknowledge took place.

The Mexican President has repeatedly called on the U.S. to put its own house in order, and deal with the drug crisis within the U.S. that is leading to the demand for illicit drugs. She has also opposed the U.S. war on migrants who Trump is accusing of drug trafficking and all kinds of unfounded crimes.

In remarks made on February 14, Sheinbaum said, "Mexico is not for sale, our homeland is not for sale, sovereignty is not negotiated, we Mexicans are here to defend our homeland." She conveyed to Mexican migrants living in the U.S., who contribute 10 per cent to the U.S. GDP, that the country considers them heroes, and those requiring legal advice will receive support from Mexico's consulates, and that if they decide to return, they will be welcomed home with open arms.

Speaking on February 13, Sheinbaum pointed out how the U.S. harbours drug cartels. She said, "There is also organized crime in the United States and there are American people who come to Mexico with these illegal activities. Otherwise who would distribute fentanyl in the cities of the United States?"

Sheinbaum was responding to a reporter from the Animal Político news outlet. The news outlet published a report earlier in the week on an investigation that found that since Mexico's former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December 2018, more than 2,600 U.S. citizens have been arrested in Mexico for offences related to organized crime, including smuggling drugs and firearms.

"The issue isn't just that drugs go from Mexico to the United States," Sheinbaum said. She said that Mexico is willing to work with the U.S. government on security issues in Mexico, but that the U.S. government also has to "do its work" to "avoid the trafficking of drugs in their country." "In the United States, they also have to act," Sheinbaum said.

Examples of U.S. Role in Drug Trafficking Around the World

For decades the U.S. has carried out drug trafficking to fund its Cold War anti-communist "counterinsurgency" activities around the world. Its "war on drugs" is used to militarize other countries and authorize U.S. military intervention in the name of stopping drug trafficking that it is itself responsible for.

Even as the United States President accuses Canada, Mexico and whoever it is seeking to intimidate of drug trafficking and it uses the fight against drugs as a pretext to force various countries to submit to its commands, the world knows it is the U.S. which has long been involved in the trafficking of illicit drugs, through its Central Intelligence Agency in particular, as well as its Drug Enforcement Administration. This includes arming drug cartels to the hilt and utilizing the profits from drug trafficking to fund other illegal activities, while using the "war on drugs" as the pretext to carry out military interventions in other countries.

This criminal activity of the U.S. state has been an especially prominent part of the U.S. modus operandi in pursuit of its imperialist aims since it launched the Cold War after World War Two. It has always been integral to U.S. imperialist counter-insurgency to defeat national liberation struggles throughout the world, especially in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Since the end of the bipolar division of the world when the former Soviet Union collapsed in the 1989-91 period, the U.S. has used this modus operandi to buy off drug lords and war lords not only in Afghanistan and Africa but to organize neo-Nazi mercenary forces in Europe itself such as in Yugoslavia, and subsequently linked to its counter-revolutionary operations in Asia and north Africa.

This is to say nothing of the fact that the U.S. is primarily responsible for the suffering and immiseration of all who have become addicted to drugs, the lives lost to overdoses, and the effect on families and communities. The U.S. program of mass incarceration, especially the disproportionate imprisonment of African Americans, is itself part of its "war on drugs."

The claims by the current Trump administration that target Canada and Mexico as being responsible for drugs entering the United States are as shameless as shameless gets since without the support of U.S. police agencies at all levels and the U.S. authority itself, the drug trade would have been eliminated a long time ago. Canada's refusal to provide the well-known information about the production and trafficking of drugs is equally shameless. While Canadian police forces make statements about the small amount of fentanyl which enters the U.S. from Canada, all the while spending millions on police forces at the border, this falls far short of providing the information about the role of the U.S. in the production and trafficking of drugs to support criminal counter-insurgency operations all over the world.

1940s: CIA's Drug-Trafficking in Indochina

David Truong, in an article published in 1987 by CovertAction, entitled "Running Drugs and Secret War," wrote about the CIA's operations in Thailand aimed at undermining the People's Republic of China. The article was published in the context of inquiries into the Iran-Contra scandal, a U.S. arms-trafficking operation it used to fund anti-communist reactionary paramilitary forces in Nicaragua to overthrow the Sandinistas.

Truong explains that during the post-World War II period, when France was setting up clandestine operations to re-establish its rule in Indochina (with U.S. and British assistance), the U.S. had started up similar operations in Burma and Thailand to undermine the nascent People's Republic of China.

Truong wrote:

"U.S. intelligence activities in Thailand were part of a broad covert program, sanctioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Truman White House, against the newly established Chinese Communist government. Since 1948, the Office for Policy Coordination (OPC) under the late Frank Wisner, driven by Cold War fever, had initiated a number of covert operations in Europe and laid the ground for more anti-communist operations in Asia.

"Civil Air Transport (CAT), American intelligence's first proprietary airline in the Far East, flew clandestine missions and drops for the OPC and later for the CIA throughout Indochina, Thailand, Burma and southern and eastern China. In early February 1951, the CIA initiated Operation PAPER, the first major paramilitary operation in that part of Southeast Asia. It involved the invasion of Yunnan province, southern China, by some 4,000 Kuomintang [KMT] troops based in Mong Hsat, Burma."

KMT General Li Mi's troops met defeat and were driven back to Burma. With continued CIA assistance, the KMT again tried twice to invade Yunnan province before retrenching itself in the territory of the Shan States in Burma.

Truong continues:

"In the decades that followed, Thailand became the launching pad for the multitude of U.S. covert operations against China. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, as the U.S. increased its role in Laos and South Vietnam, the Agency developed its Thai-based covert, paramilitary programs against Indochina and the rest of Southeast Asia. This theatre of clandestine operations was also a major opium growing region, stretching from southern Yunnan to neighbouring Burma's Shan states, northern Thailand, and northern Laos. It was commonly known as the 'Golden Triangle' to opium and heroin traffickers, and was the source of 70 per cent of the world's opium production in the early 1970s. Today, the Golden Triangle still produces at least 90 tons per year of heroin destined for the American market.

"The CIA-backed KMT troops settled in Burma after World War II and controlled the opium traffic for buyers in northern Thailand and Bangkok. From 1948 on, American intelligence activities in the Golden Triangle were intertwined with the opium trade. Infiltration routes for CIA commando teams into southern China were also used as drug smuggling routes for traffickers in Burma and Thailand. Local Shan tribesmen provided the guides to both the Agency's teams and opium caravans near the Burma-Chinese border. And the Agency had maintained five secret training camps and two key listening posts in the Shan states protected by its drug smuggling KMT troops and local tribesmen.

"Thailand was of course a major opium marketplace at the tip of the Golden Triangle. The military cliques of strongmen which ruled the country, beginning with General Phao Siyanon in 1947, also controlled the Thai National Police Department (TNPD) which was the largest opium traffic syndicate in the country. These 'strongmen' grew immensely wealthy from their drug monopoly and from ties to the CIA. Much of this drug smuggling network remains very active today, and has deep roots in Thailand's military and paramilitary circles.

[...]

"The historical roots of today's secret supply network for the contras in Central America lie with the CIA's paramilitary programs with the KMT and the BPP in Southeast Asia. These covert operations provided the Agency with considerable experience in the management of secret wars and drug running."

Truong goes on to write that during the period between 1966 and 1969, "several key players in the current weapons supply network to the contras developed their skills in drug running and secret war management."

1970s: Role of CIA in Supporting Mexican Drug Cartels

An essay by Jonathan Marshall, published in 1991 in the book Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America, shows the role of the CIA in supporting corruption, drug cartels, and criminal activity in Mexico, all of it linked to U.S. intervention in Central America. Marshall explained that in June 1975, after the arrest of Alberto Sicilia-Falcon, a Cuban exile operating out of Tijuana, "the leader of the world's largest cocaine and marijuana trafficking organization," the heavy involvement of the U.S. and its agencies in the illicit drug trade in Mexico, directly linked to its anti-communist campaigns in Latin America and the Caribbean began to come to light. Marshall wrote:

"Sicilia himself claimed that powerful political and intelligence allies helped account for his meteoric rise within the criminal world. He told police he was a CIA protégé, trained at Fort Jackson as a partisan in the secret war against Castro's Cuba. In return for helping the CIA move weapons to certain groups in Central America, he asserted, the Agency facilitated his movement of heroin and other drugs."

Those Sicilia worked closely with, either in his criminal organization or in the Mexican government were also assets of the CIA, for example, the head of the powerful Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS), Miguel Nazar Haro, who Marshall notes was a sometime asset of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and "indisputably the CIA's 'most important source in Mexico and Central America,' by the agency's own admission."

Under the tenure of Nazar Haro at DFS -- 1977 to 1982 -- the U.S. carried out a massive coverup of its so-called drug enforcement. Marshall states that U.S. government officials "knew the Mexican enforcement effort was a sham, but chose to disguise that fact from the American people until the brazen murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in February 1985. Only then did DEA Administrator Francis Mullen, Jr., startle the public with his long overdue revelation that 'Mexico hasn't arrested a major drug trafficker in eight years.'"

The Mexican government's enforcement campaign, known as Operation Condor began in 1975. "It succeeded in filling the jails with hapless peasants accused of growing marijuana on their tiny plots -- or suspected of left-wing organizing in the countryside -- but not in arresting a single major drug kingpin," Marshall writes. He goes on to explains that the two Mexican presidents who oversaw the operation were known for corruption, family links to the drug trade, and having no qualms about enriching themselves from criminal activities.

Sicilia used bribes to direct Operation Condor's activities against his drug cartel competitors in Sinaloa, but after his arrest in 1975, Condor began working to his competitors' advantage. The main Sinaloa traffickers simply moved to Guadalajara and strengthened their grip.

Mexico's DFS meanwhile provided invaluable protection to the chiefs of the Guadalajara cartel. "But the DFS did much more than simply protect the most notorious traffickers. It actually brought them together as a cartel, centralized and rationalized their operation, snuffed out competitors and through its connections with the CIA provided the international protection needed to ensure their success."

Marshall explains that Mexico's DFS provided support to Cuban exiles in Mexico to carry out drug trafficking. These same reactionaries carried out terrorist attacks against Cuba and its friends and supporters, under the auspices of the CIA. He writes:

"[T]he Zambada family of Mexican-based Cuban exiles, supplied drugs in the late 1970s to the Cuban Nationalist Movement, a constituent of CORU whose members were responsible for the 1976 assassination in Washington, DC, of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier. (José Dionisio Suarez, recently arrested for allegedly triggering the bomb that killed Letelier, reportedly spent time in Guatemala training the Nicaraguan Contras under Argentine auspices and then served the Colombian drug mafia as a smuggler and enforcer.)"

CORU was formed in 1976 with the backing of the CIA that was then under the directorship of George H.W. Bush. It was founded by a group that included CIA-backed terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Besides the assassinations of Letelier and others, CORU also carried out the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in Barbados on October 4, 1976 that killed 73 people.

1980s: Iran-Contra Scandal

The National Security Archive at George Washington University writes that in November 1986, "President Ronald Reagan announced to the nation -- after weeks of denials -- that members of his White House staff had engaged in a web of covert intrigue linking illicit U.S. support for a guerrilla war in Central America with an illegal and politically explosive arms-for-hostages bargain with the Islamic Republic of Iran." Specifically, then U.S. President Ronald Reagan knowingly violated the U.S.'s own arms embargo to sell weapons to Iran, the proceeds of which were then used to fund counterrevolutionary forces in Nicaragua. Also implicated was then Vice President George H.W. Bush, a former director of the CIA (1976-1977), who would have overseen other operations in which the U.S. carried out criminal activity to generate funds for foreign intervention.

The National Security Archive goes on to state:

"Eventually, a joint congressional select committee was convened and an independent counsel appointed by the courts, both of which uncovered volumes of invaluable documentary evidence of what had transpired, including:

"- After being explicitly prohibited from aiding the Contras with military or intelligence support, the president and his top advisers had agreed to solicit financial and other material backing from a slew of foreign governments, from Saudi Arabia, to China, to the Sultanate of Brunei, to apartheid South Africa. No effort was ever intended to notify Congress, which had constitutional authority over funding for those activities.

"- When the approaches to foreign governments seemed not to be enough, National Security Council staffer Oliver North, the main foot soldier of the affair, with authorization from at least one of his superiors, National Security Adviser John Poindexter, diverted revenues from the illicit Iran missile sales to the Contras -- the activity that garnered the most attention in the scandal.

"- Reagan had authorized direct talks with Iran to bargain for American hostages being held by Hezbollah in Lebanon, in direct contradiction of his own black-letter policy, and disregarding statutory requirements to justify his decision in writing and notify Congress.

"- When Reagan's senior aides told him the Iran deals were illegal, he told them flatly that he was willing to face 'charges of illegality.'

"- After the covert Contra support operation was exposed with the shooting down of a U.S.-backed supply plane (in October 1986), State Department and CIA officials testified falsely to Congress about U.S. ignorance of the program. Their testimony eventually produced guilty pleas to criminal charges of misleading Congress.

"- After the Iran deals were leaked to a Lebanese news magazine, the White House recognized it would be much harder to hide their role in this instance. The president, vice president and other top aides rallied around to protect the president and the covert policy by explicitly promoting a cover story that departed in significant ways from the truth.

"- Vice President George H. W. Bush was substantially aware of, and even participated in aspects of, the illicit operations even though he denied it vociferously at the time. Confirmation eventually came in the form of dictated notes which he had refused for years to turn over to the independent counsel, as well as in the form of other documents about proscribed quid pro quo deals with the Honduran government."

1980s: CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration's Promotion of
Drug-Trafficking in Afghanistan

The CIA played a key role in Afghanistan to defeat the erstwhile Soviet Union's occupation of that country. The CIA used its counterrevolutionary Contras to establish mujaheddin for this purpose, along with war lords, disrupting the traditional council (jirga) that played a key role in keeping peace and resolving disagreements. The CIA eventually turned the mujaheddin into Al-Qaeda.

William Vornberger, in an article entitled "Afghan Rebels and Drugs," published in CovertAction in 1987, pointed out:

"The DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration] event admits the CIA-backed contras are responsible for the heroin traffic out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. After David Melocik, the DEA's Congressional Liason, returned from a fact-finding trip to Southeast Asia he announced at a press conference that 'You can say the rebels make their money off the sale of opium. There's no doubt about it ... the rebels keep their cause going through the sale of opium.'

[...]

"Two top officials on the White House Strategy Council on Drug Abuse wrote, with surprising candor, in the New York Times: 'We worry about the growing of opium poppies in Afghanistan and Pakistan by rebel tribesmen who apparently are the chief adversaries of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Are we erring in befriending these tribes as we did in Laos when Air America helped transport crude opium from certain tribal areas?'"

Alfred McCoy is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the book The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, Colombia, published in 2003, which revised an earlier work published in 1972. His research revealed that the CIA had fostered heroin production in Afghanistan for decades to finance operations aimed at containing the spread of communism, and later to finance operations aimed at containing the spread of the Islamic state. McCoy alleges that the CIA protects local warlords and incentivizes them to become drug lords.

In his book, McCoy argues that the CIA follows a similar pattern in all their drug involvement. He quotes General Tuan Shi-wen, commander of the Kuomintang Fifth Army (based in the Golden Triangle), as follows: "We have to continue to fight the evil of Communism, and to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains the only money is opium."

McCoy has also written that during the 1980s "to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the CIA, working through Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, backed Afghan warlords who used the Agency's arms, logistics, and protection to become major drug lords."

McCoy wrote of the DEA and CIA's role in Afghanistan: "Although the drug pandemic of the 1980s had complex causes, the growth in global heroin supply could be traced, in large part, to two key aspects of U.S. policy -- the failure of DEA prohibition in the war on drugs and CIA protection for drug lord allies in its covert wars. By attacking heroin trafficking in separate sectors of Asia's extended opium zone in isolation, the DEA had simply diverted heroin exports from America to Europe and shifted opium production from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and back again -- raising both global consumption and production with each turn. Moreover, the rising opium harvests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, America's major suppliers, were unintended 'fallout' from the CIA's covert Afghan war. Just as earlier covert wars had increased Burma's opium crop in the 1950s, so the agency's aid to mujaheddin guerrillas now expanded opium production in Afghanistan and linked Pakistan's nearby heroin laboratories to the world market. After a decade as the sites of major CIA covert operations, Burma and Afghanistan were, in 1989, the world's first and second largest heroin suppliers. [...]

"During the 1980s, the CIA's covert war in Afghanistan transformed Central Asia from a self-contained opium zone into a major supplier of heroin for the world market. [...] In its decade of covert warfare against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the CIA's operations provided the political protection and logistics linkages that joined Afghanistan's poppy fields to heroin markets in Europe and America."

McCoy points out that the CIA sought to conduct its covert war with the Soviet Union with local warlords and commanders, "making its success contingent on their power." These local warlords then used the CIA's clandestine operation to become drug lords. McCoy writes:

"Only two years after the start of the Afghan war, the CIA's covert supply apparatus that shipped arms to the mujaheddin had been inverted to serve a massive drug operation that moved opium from Afghanistan, through Pakistan's heroin laboratories, and into international markets. As heroin laboratories opened along the Afghan-Pakistan border to service Western markets in 1979-1980, Pakistan's opium production grew nearly tenfold to 800 tons. Within a year, Pakistani heroin supplied 60 per cent of America's illicit demand and an even greater share of Europe's."

[...]

1990s: U.S. War on Drugs in Colombia

One of the major aims of the U.S. in Colombia was to defeat the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who were waging a guerilla war on the basis of empowering the Colombian people and throwing out those impoverishing the country and exploiting the people in the service of private and foreign interests. It did so under the guise of drug enforcement while actually increasing illegal drug production and drug trafficking in Colombia and the region, while falsely accusing the FARC of carrying out the crimes it was itself committing.

Alfred McCoy in his 2003 book, The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, Colombia, explains:

"In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon declared a 'war on drugs' against the Asian heroin traffic, launching a major expansion in U.S. international enforcement. A decade later, President Ronald Reagan redirected the U.S. drug war toward domestic enforcement and coca eradication in the Andes, a policy shift followed by all his successors. [...] In 1996, President William Clinton further expanded the drug war with his $1.3 billion 'Plan Colombia' -- an emphasis on enforcement exaggerated by his successor George W. Bush, who promised, in February 2002, to cut drug abuse by 25 per cent through aggressive law enforcement."

The fact is that curbing drugs was never the genuine aim of the War on Drugs which was to divert attention from the reasons for the insurgency of the guerilla forces, blame them for all the crimes committed by the CIA and the counter-insurgency paramilitary forces and suppress them in the name of stopping the production and trafficking of illegal drugs.

McCoy writes:

"Despite four U.S. drug wars fought at a cost of nearly $150 billion, world illicit opium supply grew fivefold from 1,200 tons in 1971 to 6,100 tons in 1999. Similarly, during 15 years of U.S. bilateral eradication in the Andes, coca leaf production doubled to 600,000 tons in 1999. After holding steady at 100 prisoners per 100,000 population for over half a century, the U.S. incarceration rate, driven by mandatory drug sentencing, soared from 138 in 1980 to 702 in 2002 -- creating, in effect, a doomsday machine that continues to fill prisons without limit or logic. At the start of the 21st century, the United States was fighting a global drug war by creating the world's largest prison population and defoliating mountain farms in Asia and the Andes."

McCoy explains further on:

"Ignoring the lessons from Nixon's drug war in Asia, the Reagan White House pursued a parallel policy in Latin America with predictably dismal results. [...] In 1982, Reagan declared a war on drugs in Latin America and, two years later, reinforced this unilateral action when the Andean nations released the Quito Declaration against narcotics in August 1984. Building upon this diplomatic momentum, Reagan issued National Security Decision Directive No. 221 in April 1986, declaring drug trafficking a threat to 'U.S. national security,' thus legitimizing the use of military forces to fight the drug war beyond U.S. borders. During the next decade, this directive subordinated all U.S. foreign policy goals in Latin America to the 'all-encompassing focus' of stopping the drug flow.

"Under Reagan's renewed drug war, funding was doubled and focused on sealing America's southeastern borders from trans-Caribbean drug flights. Even though cocaine seizures rose from two tons in 1981 to 100 tons in 1989, this enforcement shield around Florida simply deflected smuggling west to northern Mexico, forging an alliance between Colombian and Mexican cartels.

[...]

"The impact of Reagan's policy was felt most directly in Colombia. Although marijuana exports had surged in the 1970s, criminality was still contained and few could have foreseen the catalytic effect of cocaine in the drug violence of the 1980s. After the industry collapsed around Medellin in Antioquia province [Colombia] during the 1960s, mass migration sent some 2 million people to the United States, laying the foundation for a future criminal diaspora. As the province's Medellin cartel started shipping cocaine north in the late 1970s, the drug lord Pablo Escobar expanded profits by controlling street-level distribution across America through contacts in this Antioquia diaspora. Washington pressed Colombia for action against the Medellin cartel, and Escobar responded with a spectacularly violent attack on the state.

[...]

"President Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, expanded the drug war by focusing on aggressive domestic enforcement and militarized eradication in Andean source nations. [...] His appointee to the newly created post of drug policy director, William J. Bennett, released the first National Drug Control Strategy statement, calling for an 'unprecedented' expansion of police, courts, and prisons to win the war on drugs. Insisting on enforcement over education, Bennett called for an 85 per cent increase in federal prison capacity and pressured states to expand theirs as well. [...] After only a year on the job, Bennett declared victory in the drug war and resigned. [...]

"Most importantly, the Bush administration militarized the drug war. [... T]he Bush administration enlisted the U.S. Defense Department in the drug war, expanding its scale far beyond the limited resources of the State and Justice departments. Desperate for a new mission at Cold War's end, the Defense Department announced, in September 1989, it would 'lead the attack on the supply of illegal drugs from abroad' and soon began deploying its vast arsenal for the fight -- Blackhawk helicopters, Navy E-2C aircraft, costly communications equipment, and Special Operations units. By the end of the Reagan-Bush era, Washington's drug-war metaphor had become a military reality."

U.S. efforts to end drug production in Peru and Bolivia were entirely offset by increased production in Colombia. McCoy writes:

"This shift of coca production north to Colombia was by no means benign. In effect, U.S. eradication efforts drove coca out of relatively peaceful areas like Bolivia into Colombia's ongoing civil war. After the Medellin cartel's terror ended with Pablo Escobar's death in December 1993, the rival Cali cartel's quiet infiltration of the state culminated in its secret contributions to the 1994 campaign that helped elect President Ernesto Samper and half the Colombian Congress."

McCoy's investigation, like others, falls prey to U.S. disinformation that tries to put the blame on drug-trafficking in that country on the FARC. In 1997, the U.S. put FARC on its list of foreign terrorist organizations, denying its status as a combatant force in a civil war, and its aim of ending the Colombian state's crimes and exploitation of its people, especially the impoverished peasantry.

McCoy points to the role of state-backed United Self-Defense Forces, a reactionary paramilitary group that were linked to armed militias established by drug lords to protect their interests. McCoy writes:

"As FARC's influence grew, the military countered by backing the violent paramilitaries -- particularly, the United Self-Defense Forces (US-DFC), commanded by Carlos Castano, a former lieutenant to drug lord Pablo Escobar. In August 1997, the US-DFC's reliance on cocaine was confirmed with the seizure of a complex of four sophisticated labs and 700 kilograms of finished cocaine in Cundinamarca. By 2001, the 8,000-strong US-DFC paramilitary had assets of some $200 million, largely from coca protection, and was using this illicit income for aggressive counterinsurgency.

[...]

"During its last year in office, the Clinton administration won approval for 'Plan Colombia" -- a $1.3 billion military program to train an anti-drug battalion, supply helicopters, and defoliate coca fields. From this vast war chest, USAID allocated only $47 million for alternative crops, a clear indication of the program's priorities.

[...]

"By early 2002, the administration of President George W. Bush began pressing Congress to lift restrictions on Plan Colombia to allow a shift, as U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy put it, from 'counter narcotics to counter insurgency.'"

In fact, U.S. state agencies have been involved in the production and trafficking of drugs all over the world. Without U.S. protection, the problem would have been controlled long ago.

(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)

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Note

1. The meeting was arranged with the help of a U.S. consulting firm, Checkmate Government Relations hired by the Council of the Federation for U.S.$85,000 per month to represent it "on federal governmental relations matters in Washington, DC," as of February 1.

(CBC, Toronto Star, CTV)

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Note

Note

1. Government of Canada's "Quick Facts"

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Note

1. The order continues:

Targeting Mexico

Examples of U.S. Role in Drug Trafficking Around the World

1940s: CIA's Drug-Trafficking in Indochina

1970s: Role of CIA in Supporting Mexican Drug Cartels

1980s: Iran-Contra Scandal

1980s: CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration's Promotion of Drug-Trafficking in Afghanistan

1990s: U.S. War on Drugs in Colombia

Cuban President Addresses Brutal U.S. Persecution and
Humiliating Deportations

Speaking at Reception at Cuban Embassy, from left to right: Global Affairs spokesperson Carolyn Knobel, Cuban Deputy Head of Mission Dany Tur de la Concepción, and Bloc Québécois MP for Joliette
Gabriel Ste-Marie.

1980s: CIA and Drug Enforcement Administration's Promotion of
Drug-Trafficking in Afghanistan