Keep Canada-Cuba Relations on an Even Keel by Upholding
International Rule of Law
- Margaret Villamizar -
Montreal picket May 11, 2019, against Canada's suspension of visa
services from its
Consular Office in Havana.
Canadians are increasingly concerned about the
disruption
of Canada-Cuba relations, especially when the Trudeau government
so closely takes its orders from the U.S. which is stepping up
its interference in the internal affairs of other countries. They
want Canada-Cuba relations to be kept on an even keel by
upholding the international rule of law, and will not accept that
the Canadian government should be acting to serve U.S. aggressive
aims in Cuba.
It is in this light that
many people paid close attention on
Thursday, May 16, when Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland
conducted a working visit to Havana where she met with her
counterpart, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez
Parrilla. In advance of the meeting, Freeland said she intended to
discuss "the deteriorating situation in Venezuela" as well as how
Canada and Cuba could "work together to defend Canadians
conducting legitimate trade and investment in Cuba in light of
the United States ending the suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton
Act." Freeland is not just anyone when
it
comes to Venezuela. She has been spearheading the Lima Group
whose sole purpose is to impose U.S.-led regime change against
the democratically elected government of Nicolás Maduro, a
government supported by the majority of the world's
countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland meets with her counterpart,
Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla in
Havana, May 16, 2019.
At the conclusion of her visit she said in a tweet that
"Canada, together with its partners in the Lima Group, hopes to
find ways to work with Cuba to address the worsening political,
economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela," saying that she
had a "frank discussion" about that with Rodríguez Parrilla.
Regarding the Helms-Burton Act she simply repeated what
she said in a statement a month ago when the U.S. announced its
decision -- that Canada would defend its businesses conducting
legitimate trade and investment in Cuba.
Freeland is the first high-ranking member of the
Canadian
government to visit Cuba since Prime Minister Trudeau's official
visit in November 2016. To all appearances the main purpose of
her visit was to follow up on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's May
3 phone call to President Miguel Díaz-Canel on behalf of the
so-called Lima Group of countries to seek the Cuban government's
cooperation in foisting regime change on Venezuela "peacefully"
by forcing the holding of new presidential elections. At the time
Freeland put it more bluntly, stating imperiously that "Cuba
needs to not be part of the problem in Venezuela, but become part
of the solution."
The Cuban President's response to Canada's
overture on behalf of the U.S.-led regime change forces was to
reiterate Cuba's principled stand in support of dialogue with
President Nicolás Maduro based on respect for Venezuela's
sovereignty and international law, without threats or foreign
intervention. The same position was conveyed to Minister Freeland
by Minister Rodríguez at their meeting in Havana. A statement
issued
on May 16 by Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex)
indicated that "Minister Rodríguez ratified Cuba's willingness
to
contribute initiatives aimed at promoting a respectful dialogue
with the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela based
on the sovereign equality of states, the principles of
international law and provisions of the Proclamation of Latin
America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, in particular the
rejection of the use or threat of force and the application of
unilateral coercive economic measures that cause humanitarian
harm."
Regarding other matters discussed, the statement said
Rodríguez thanked Canada for the support it has traditionally
given to the resolution against the U.S. blockade of Cuba at the
United Nations General Assembly and the Canadian government's
stand in opposition to the recent application by the current U.S.
administration of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.
Monthly picket in Vancouver demands end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba,
March 17, 2019.
It also indicated that Rodríguez expressed Cuba's
concern over
Canada's decision to suspend visa services to Cuban citizens from
its Consular Office in Havana, saying this would negatively
affect Cubans' family and personal ties as well as the
development of cultural, educational, academic and scientific
exchanges between Cubans and Canadians. He further told Freeland
that Canada's decision to withdraw part of its diplomatic and
consular staff from Havana was unfounded, given the absence of
evidence of a risk to their safety. Cuban and international
experts have to date failed to establish any basis for the
alleged "sonic attacks" that the U.S. and Canada have said
affected their diplomatic personnel in Havana.
Workers taking part in the recent Canadian Union of
Postal
Workers 2019 Convention in Toronto from May 13-17 reported with
dismay that for the first time, their counterparts from the
Federation of Cuban Workers (CTC) were not able to attend because
they could not get their visas on time.
Monthly picket in Ottawa, April 17, 2019.
Context of Freeland's Visit to Cuba
Early in the morning on the same day Freeland travelled
to
Havana, U.S. police broke into Venezuela's embassy in Washington,
DC. in flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic
Relations, arresting U.S. activists who had been living and
working inside the building for the last 37 days with the
permission of the Venezuelan government, to protect it from just
such an illegal action. Notably, despite the end of official
diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Venezuela on January
23, Venezuela continues to do its duty to protect the site of the
U.S. Embassy in Caracas.
Freeland, in Washington herself on May 16, to meet with
trade
officials of the Trump administration in an attempt to get U.S.
tariffs removed from Canadian steel and aluminum (which in fact
took place the next day), has said nothing about this
precedent-setting violation of the rules of diplomacy that flies
in the face of the rules-based international order that she
claims to champion.
The visit to Havana also took place as talks were being
held in Oslo, Norway under the auspices of the Norwegian government --
and with the participation of representatives of the Venezuelan
government and opposition -- to explore the possibility of a mediated
dialogue being initiated. The same day, a delegation of the
EU-dominated International Contact Group (ICG) was received in Caracas
by President Nicolás Maduro. Like the Lima Group, the ICG calls
for a "peaceful transition" through the holding of a new presidential
election in Venezuela, with most of its members recognizing Juan
Guaidó as the country's "interim president" in the meantime.
Clearly, given Cuba's prestige and the years it spent working with
Norway as well as Venezuela to facilitate Colombian peace negotiations,
it makes sense for Cuba to play a role in facilitating dialogue and a
peaceful resolution to the crisis in Venezuela today -- as long as the
starting point is, as Cuba maintains, upholding international law and
the rights of the Venezuelan people, not the violation of both, couched
in terms that make it seem otherwise.
Of note in that regard, two days before Freeland
met
with her counterparts in Cuba, her department issued a statement
to say that Prime Minister Trudeau had spoken with the
self-proclaimed "president" of the illegal parallel government of
Venezuela that Canada helped the U.S. set up, commending him for the
latest
round of the failed coup attempt against the government of
Nicolás Maduro. Trudeau represented that attempt to incite a
civil war between Venezuelans as an example of "the courage and
persistent efforts to return democracy to Venezuela" of Jean
Guaidó, the National Assembly and "the people of Venezuela." The
statement said the Prime Minister and the "Interim President"
reaffirmed "the need for the international community to align
itself in order to bring a peaceful transition to Venezuela" and
that Trudeau had updated Guaidó on the Lima Group's alleged
efforts to this end, mentioning his own discussions with other
international partners. Guaidó is said to have thanked Trudeau
for Canada's role in helping lead the international response to
the crisis in Venezuela.
In spite of whatever illusions the regime change forces
Canada is part of may have, or machinations they invent to try and
coerce the Cubans to abandon their principled positions in support of
Venezuela's sovereignty and right to self-determination, their efforts
will not succeed -- not with Cuba and not with the Venezuelan people
who have a long tradition of fighting for their freedom and
independence.
In this regard, Canadians need to be vigilant and act
against
any attempts by this or any future government of Canada to
appease the U.S. in its criminal aims against Cuba and Venezuela.
Likewise they should make their voices heard to make sure that
nothing or nobody is allowed to disrupt the longstanding friendly
relations between Canada and Cuba, so that diplomatic relations
continue based on respect for the international rule of law and
equality.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number
18 - May 18, 2019
Article Link:
Keep
Canada-Cuba Relations on an Even Keel by Upholding International Rule
of Law - Margaret Villamizar
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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