Canada and the Lima Group
Next Monday February 4th Canada will host members of the Lima group of South and Central American countries in an attempt to find a resolution to the situation in Venezuela Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has announced.
Freeland said: “Since August 2017, Canada has been working closely as a member of the Lima group, which is comprised of over a dozen Latin American countries and the Caribbean, to address the Venezuelan crisis. The Maduro regime relinquished any remaining legitimacy when it seized power through fraudulent and undemocratic elections on May 20, 2018. We now call upon Nicolas Maduro to cede power to the National Assembly, the only remaining democratically elected institution in Venezuela, in line with that country’s constitution.”
The May 20, 2018 elections Freeland is referring to was the election of Maduro as president. While numerous countries rejected the results there were also many who accepted it. Two divergent accounts of the election are linked, one in Wikipedia, the other in Venezuelanalysis
Not only does Freeland not identify the election she just categorically calls them undemocratic and fraudulent. Of course she does not tell you either that the functions of the National Assembly have long been taken over by the elected Constituent Assembly. Mainstream media do not ever mention this body. See my recent Digital Journal article.
Friedland has already spoken with Juan Guaido two weeks before the US and Canada recognition of him as president. She congratulated him on unifying opposition forces. Her conversations allowed Canada to respond almost immediately after Guaido declared himself interim president according to an official who spoke to the Globe and Mail.
Ben Rowswell, Canada’s former ambassador to Venezuela said that he was astonished by the Lima Group consensus that quickly followed Guaido’s declaration that he was president. Bowswell said:“It’s an unusual move for any country to comment on who the president of another country should be – to have countries that represent two-thirds of the population of Latin America do it in minutes shows there was a remarkable alignment that’s got to be nearly unprecedented in the history of Latin America. What you might be seeing here is success of some extraordinary quiet diplomacy.”
The quiet diplomacy that planned the coup
An AP article notes: “The coalition of Latin American governments that joined the U.S. in quickly recognizing Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president came together over weeks of secret diplomacy that included whispered messages to activists under constant surveillance and a high-risk foreign trip by the opposition leader challenging President Nicolas Maduro for power, those involved in the talks said.”
In mid-December Guaido went to Washington, Columbia and Brazil to brief them on the mass demonstrations planned to coincide with Maduro’s swearing in on January 10. However, the article also notes: “Playing a key role behind the scenes was Lima Group member Canada, whose Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke to Guaido the night before Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony to offer her government’s support should he confront the socialist leader, the Canadian official said.”
Now Canada is carrying on with its task by hosting the Lima Group without the US. The US need not be present while Canada is doing its job for it and the US is not a member of the Lima Group.
I append a pro-Maduro video and then a Fox News anti-Maduro video. The latter is interesting in that Bolton who is interviewed specifically says that the US is interested in Venezuelan oil.
