The People and No One Else Will Decide What Happens in Venezuela -
Margaret Villamizar - 
 Following the
election of the new National Assembly, Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro expressed satisfaction that the National
Assembly had been freed from the control of opposition forces who used
it as a base over the past five years to violate the country's
constitution, obstruct the normal functioning of government and support
the U.S. economic war against the country. He called it a great victory
for democracy, for the constitution. Maduro has said that the first
task of the new legislature must be to repair the damage done to the
country's economy by the sanctions, adopting necessary measures to
fortify and shield it from the effects of the U.S. economic war. He
said this would require passing legislation approved in October by the
National Constituent Assembly, which dissolves December 31, known as
the Anti-Blockade Law for National Development and the
Guarantee of Human Rights.
When the law
was approved in the Constituent Assembly, Vice President Delcy
Rodríguez said it would offer new ways to partner
with international investors by providing special protections for their
investment so that Venezuela could take a step forward, to go on an
economic offensive against the U.S.-led sanctions that are strangling
the economy. She said the government would unveil a "basket of
projects" for foreign investors in such areas as oil, gas, mining,
agriculture, tourism, and "all areas where Venezuela has great
potential to generate large-scale investment." While
in Washington "they speak of human rights,"
Rodríguez said, "their policies are aimed at
restricting the well-being of an entire nation." Imperialist
Response to Victory of Bolivarian Forces 
December
6, 2020. Montreal picket on the day of the Venezuelan election.
As
expected, the results of the election have not been recognized by
governments entangled in the multi-pronged U.S. war against Venezuela
that continues trying to force a parallel "president" and "government"
on the people in defiance of their expressed will. The U.S. has made it
clear that the next step in its regime change playbook requires deeming
the opposition-controlled National Assembly whose term ends January 5,
2021 -- the one Juan Guaidó presided over briefly, forming
the basis of his fabricated presidency -- to be the country's only
"legitimate" legislative body. Not long after U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo denounced the election as "rigged" and a charade, Canada
and the Lima Group (with the exception of Argentina and Uruguay),
Britain and the leadership of the European Union, in a servile fashion
issued their own versions of the same thing Minister
of Foreign Affairs, François-Philippe Champagne, for
example, said in a statement released on December 6 before the results
of the election were known: "Canada does not recognize the results of
Venezuela's December 6 electoral process because the process did not
meet the minimum conditions for a free and fair exercise of democracy."
He then called for new presidential and parliamentary elections to be
held in keeping with standards that presumably the U.S. and its
Organization of American States, Canada and the Lima Group embody and
are in a position to give lessons about! Former
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero, who was in Venezuela to observe the election, and has
facilitated numerous negotiation attempts between the government of
Nicolás Maduro and opposition forces that the U.S.
invariably intervened to torpedo, said the elections must end the
unfair and incomprehensible sanctions against Venezuela. "The policy of
sanctions and non-recognition could lead us to the greatest absurdity
in the history of International Law," he warned. The
advice was lost on the Trudeau government in Canada and the others
however, with the EU announcing new sanctions against certain
Venezuelan officials this week.   
December
6, 2020. Montreal
U.S. "Multilateralism that
Works" Applied Against Venezuela Speaking to the
50th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in
October, Mike Pompeo called the organization an example of
"multilateralism that actually works." What he meant by that became
apparent as he proceeded to give the governments of other countries
their marching orders, as if they were all U.S. vassal
states. First on the list of his government's "expectations,"
he said, was that that all member states not recognize past or future
elections of "the illegitimate Maduro regime." On
December 9 a special meeting of the Permanent Council of the
OAS was held at the request of Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the
U.S. and a number of other countries to "consider the political
situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the context of the
parliamentary elections held by the illegitimate regime of
Nicolás Maduro." At the meeting a
resolution in line with what would be expected of the U.S. and its Lima
Group was passed by 20 member states with two opposed, five abstaining
and six Caribbean countries and Nicaragua not in attendance.[1] The resolution
claimed the "fraudulent" election was held for the purpose of
eliminating "the only legitimate and democratically elected institution
remaining in Venezuela." It said that the installation of those elected
would further destroy democracy, the rule of law and aggravate all
other problems that affect the everyday life of Venezuelans. In other
words, the U.S. would be forced to continue intensifying its cruel war
of attrition against Venezuela. The resolution
praised the contrived "popular consultation" held over the the past
week by the Juan Guaidó-Leopoldo López faction,
in which they asked Venezuelans at home and abroad to answer a set of
leading questions that seek to show the people do not recognize the
results of the December 6 election and ask "the international
community" to do the same; and furthermore, that they "order" the
necessary steps taken to get "the international community" to intervene
to "rescue our democracy, address the humanitarian crisis and protect
the people from crimes against humanity." After
asserting that the December 6 election was allegedly neither free nor
fair "in accordance with the conditions established in international
law" and other democratic norms the governments of the U.S., Canada and
their pathetic Lima Group claim to uphold, the counter-revolutionary
resolution also called for "holding, as soon as possible, free, fair,
transparent and legitimate presidential and parliamentary elections."
But it was not all smooth sailing for the U.S. and Canada. A
number of countries that voted in favour of the resolution made a point
of stating that their positive vote did not imply agreement with
continuing to recognize the outgoing National Assembly when its term
lapses in January as the U.S. is calling for. Argentina's
Ambassador to the OAS Carlos Raimundi, who abstained on the vote, was
one who took that stand. He said it would be a violation of Venezuela's
constitution to continue recognizing the expired legislature. He also
said his government was committed to facilitating the search for a
political solution in Venezuela through dialogue, and that the
electoral path was the only viable one for renewing the country's
institutions. Raimundi said it was wrong to ignore the will of those
who took part in the election and dictate conditions from outside
without contributing even minimally to the elections, or worse, pushing
for them to be boycotted. He then called for the policy of sanctions
and non-recognition to be reconsidered, saying it had led nowhere.
An honourable stand was taken by Mexico's Ambassador Luz Elena
Baños, who along with Bolivia’s representative,
voted against the resolution. Her words also represented many if not
all those who stayed away from the meeting. She sharply denounced the
undemocratic and intolerant behaviour that has prevailed for some time
inside the OAS, where an exclusive group of countries come up with the
resolution without consulting all members. Baños condemned
the resolution as interventionist, saying the role of the OAS was not
to recognize or not recognize governments. The approach of these
countries that do not even oppose sanctions, she said, is against
multilateralism, which is supposed to try and solve problems based on
international law, not block the possibility of negotiating.  When Canada's
Ambassador Hugh Adsett took the floor, he spuriously accused the
Venezuelan "regime" of committing crimes against humanity "against all
who dissent, in order to maintain its grip on power." He uttered weasel
words about Canada wanting to work along with Venezuelans and other
members of the OAS to help them solve their problems. He imposed as the
condition for working together the holding of what Canada and the OAS
would recognize as "free and fair presidential and parliamentary
elections."
The hypocrisy of the Trudeau Liberals
has no bounds. Their actions do not speak for Canadians who they have
never consulted about the dirty war they are engaged in against the
Venezuelan people and others around the world targeted by the U.S. and
NATO for regime change and destabilization. Instead of interfering in
the affairs of the Venezuelan people at the behest of the narrow
private interests which are favoured by the removal of a Bolivarian
government, the Trudeau government should instead concern itself with
the lack of democratic conditions in its own house and the Canadian
people's demands for decision-making power at home. Note
1. In
favour: Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St Lucia, Uruguay, United
States. The illegal "Venezuelan" delegation also voted in favour.
Against: Bolivia, Mexico Abstained:
Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname Absent:
Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 48 - December 12, 2020
Article Link:
The People and No One Else Will Decide What Happens in Venezuela -
Margaret Villamizar
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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