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December 22, 2017
The Effects of Free Trade on Colombia
December 20, 2017
Statement from the UN Office on Human Rights
End Mission Statement by the Independent Expert
on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order,
Alfred-Maurice de Zayas to Venezuela and Ecuador
from 26 November to 9 December 2017
As the first Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, I have had the opportunity of defining the mandate and the methodology. I have produced six reports for the Human Rights Council and six reports for the General Assembly, all covering issues of international order including tax havens, investor-state-dispute settlement, bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, World Bank projects, the International Monetary Fund and its loan conditionalities, disarmament for development, the self-determination of peoples and the reform of the Security Council. The object and purpose of my mandate is laid down in resolution 18/6 of the Human Rights Council, and the parameters of my visit are described in a media statement issued on 27 November 20171.
The function of rapporteurs and independent experts is to ask questions, listen to all stakeholders, evaluate documents, and issue constructive recommendations to States.
We come in order to help populations better realize their human rights.
In order to do so, we try to convince governments that it is in their own interest to cooperate with the United Nations, and we offer them our advisory services and technical assistance.
Our function cannot be reduced to condemning governments.
As one of the few Special Procedures given access to Venezuela and Ecuador, expectations for my visit were high. While I could not fulfil the expectations of some sectors of civil society and remain within the parameters of my mandate, I did assure my interlocutors that I would transmit their concerns to the pertinent rapporteurs.
In particular, issues have been raised which could be examined in more depth by the rapporteurs on freedom of expression, on the right of peaceful assembly and association, on the independence of judges and lawyers, on food, health and on arbitrary detention. I also endeavoured to incorporate some of the concerns mentioned into the narrative of my preliminary recommendations to the States.
Where relevant, I will reflect their input in the final report to the submitted to the Council in 2018.
December 14, 2017
Urgent Action: Human Rights Crisis in Honduras
Call on Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland to take a strong stand concerning electoral fraud, repression and violence in Honduras.
This online action is supported by Atlantic Region Solidarity Network, Breaking the Silence, Common Frontiers, the Committee for Human Rights in Latin America, CoDevelopment Canada and Miningwatch Canada.
CoDev partner in Honduras CODEMUH at the protests
Since national elections on November 26, numerous examples of irregularities and electoral fraud have been documented by national and international observers. These irregularities and fraudulent activities favour the incumbent National Party candidate, Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been trailing Salvador Nasralla of the Opposition Alliance by a significant amount, late in the vote count on the 26th. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which lacked representation from the opposition parties and whose president is closely aligned with the incumbent candidate, has lost all legitimacy with the Honduran population.
Fearful that democracy in Honduras will continue to be undermined, as it was with the 2009 military coup, tens of thousands of Hondurans have taken to the streets across the country to demand that the will of the electorate be respected with many calling for Juan Orlando Hernández’ immediate resignation, seeing his centralization of power in the country and efforts at reelection as further entrenchment of the coup.
December 12, 2017
Canada calls on Honduras to reinstate constitutional rights
Salvador Nasralla, candidate of the opposition alliance, holds a rally in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017.
Photo Credit: Fernando Antonio
By Levon SevuntsRadio Canada International
Canada is closely following the crisis that has gripped Honduras following the disputed presidential election and is calling upon the Honduran authorities to reinstate constitutional rights and guarantees without delay, said Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“Democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law must be upheld,” Freeland said in a statement as thousands of opposition supporters flooded the streets in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa and other cities.
However, Canadian civil society groups are calling on the Trudeau government to take a harder line with the Honduran authorities.
“We call on the Canadian government to stop all political and economic support for the Honduran government until election results can be scrutinized by international observers and declared free and fair, and until the human rights situation in the country improves,” said a , a working group of Canadian labour and civil rights organizations.
The Americas Policy Group (APG), a regional working group of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation,
to support an independent international commission to undertake a vote count and to
conduct an investigation of the electoral process.
Honduras has been plunged into political uncertainty since the November 26 election, with repeated delays and concerns over inconsistencies plaguing the vote.
December 11, 2017
Progressive trade requires more than just titles and talking points
By Mark Hancock
Opinion, Toronto Star
Canadians deserve fair trade agreements that will stand the test of time, and our leaders must do more than simply slap the word “progressive” into titles and talking points. We need real accountable and transparent practices when our government negotiates deals, and we deserve respect for, and real responsiveness to, public input.
Look in any direction on Canada’s international trade landscape today, and you’ll find a situation in barely controlled chaos — whether that’s renegotiations on NAFTA, where the United States effectively holds all the cards, a new attempt at the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or a potential trade deal with China — talks that our prime minister has rather dramatically walked away from in recent weeks.
There is plenty in play, and a lot at stake, for Canada. We live in a global economy, where strong trading relationships are essential, but too often our political leaders lock us into trade agreements that set our country back instead of bringing it forward.
Across the country, ordinary folks and even mainstream economists are starting to recognize that we don’t have to agree to bad trade deals, and that walking away from a deal that doesn’t benefit Canadian workers, and the Canadian economy, isn’t going to cause the sky to fall.
NAFTA is the perfect example. Since the adoption of NAFTA, almost 25 years ago, Canada has become the most-sued government in the developed world. We’ve been sued almost 40 times under NAFTA’s Chapter 11, dishing out close to $250 million in public money to private corporations.
That’s a serious assault on the public purse, but more importantly on the right of governments in Canada to exercise and uphold their own democratic decision-making. (The U.S., by contrast, has never been successfully sued under Chapter 11.)
NAFTA has also cost us countless manufacturing jobs and put public resources like water, and our environment, in serious jeopardy.
During the negotiation of NAFTA, and in the years since, countless organizations and individuals raised the alarm about these very issues. While CUPE and groups like the Council of Canadians and Alternative for the Americas were calling for robust consultation, improved protections for workers, measures to address inequality, and the inclusion of environmental protections in trade agreements, our concerns were largely ignored in favour of more powerful corporate voices.
Those that promote unfettered free trade tend to fearmonger about all-but-certain economic Armageddon when voices raise concerns about things like labour rights and environmental protection. And up until now, they have managed to drown out those voices.
But last week’s report from BMO titled “The Day After NAFTA” tells a pretty different story. Pulling out of NAFTA would have some economic downsides in the short term, but realigning trade priorities and shifting monetary policy “would work to mitigate the economic damage”, according to BMO Chief Economist Doug Porter. In other words, the sky wouldn’t fall after all.
That’s pretty much what organizations like CUPE have been saying since the 1990s. And, in fact, it proves Canada is in a position to walk away from NAFTA if we can’t get a deal that respects workers, communities, and the environment.
December 10, 2017
Democracy North: Focus on Latin America: Chile, Colombia, Venezuela
Common Frontiers coordinator Raul Burbano was interivewed recently by independent radio station Democracy North, as part of their special report on Latin America. To listen to the podcast, click on the link below, which will take you to the interview listing.
December 7, 2017
Is another coup under way in Honduras?
Canada has been complicit with repressive regimes
since 2009 overthrow of President Zelaya
Recent days have seen violent repression of mass protests against perceived electoral fraud in Honduras. Resistance to the heavy-handed government response has come from unexpected places, with one elite division of the police forces refusing orders to suppress demonstrations. The Canadian government’s hands are not clean in Honduras, having played a significant role in this Central American country since a coup in 2009 overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
By Steve Stewart
On June 26, 2009, I received a curious email from the Canadian consulate in Honduras. It urged Canadians in Honduras to stay off the streets the following Sunday, June 28. Although I was safely ensconced in an office in Vancouver at the time, I had met with officials at the consulate earlier that year, so I assumed that they thought I was stationed in the country.
What was strange about the message was that the only event of note planned in Honduras for June 28 was a non-binding consultation to ask citizens if they favoured including on the ballot in the November national elections a referendum question on electing a constituent assembly to rewrite the Honduran constitution. Hardly, I thought, a reason for foreigners to hide in their homes.
The consultation was never held. Early on June 28, soldiers stormed the presidential palace, arrested progressive president Manuel Zelaya and forced him, still in his pajamas, on a plane and into exile. The coup ushered in what has now been eight years of repression of social activists, environmental defenders and marginalized groups, skyrocketing murder rates, and the increased penetration of organized crime into higher and higher levels of the state, while opening the country to foreign investment and the expansion of mining, agro-industry and infrastructure.
Back in 2009, Canadian diplomats joined the U.S. in blocking efforts in the Organization of American States and the United Nations to restore the constitutional order immediately after the coup.
The violent suppression in Honduras of the popular uprising that has followed this year’s elections is a result of the unfinished business of the 2009 coup.
Disputed election
The presidential election saw incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernández of the National Party — principal vehicle of the country’s traditional oligarchy — face off against Salvador Nasralla, candidate of a coalition calling itself the “Alliance Against the Dictatorship.” The alliance is comprised of the left-wing Libre party, formed by supporters of ousted president Zelaya, and the centre-right Anticorruption Party.
Hours after the polls closed, with 58 per cent of the votes counted, results gave Nasralla a strong lead of 45 per cent to Orlando’s 40 per cent. The count was suddenly halted (The electoral tribunal blamed a “computer glitch”), and when it began again on Nov. 27 Nasralla’s advantage had almost disappeared. Counting proceeded at a snail’s pace for the next couple of days and gradually, Hernández replaced Nasralla’s lead.
The Honduran national congress backed the 2009 coup that overthrew Zelaya, arguing that his planned consultation would violate the constitution, which prohibits re-election of presidents. The consultation, congressional leaders argued, could lead to a referendum that might approve the election of a constituent assembly, which might have modified the constitution to allow for re-election.
Juan Orlando Hernández presided over the National Congress in the first post-coup government. Now it is Orlando Hernández himself who stands for re-election, bypassing the constitutional articles prohibited this by replacing Supreme Court judges with more malleable ones, who ruled last year that the ban on re-election violates Hernández’s civic rights.
December 7, 2017
Putting Mexican energy privatization beyond the reach of voters
Pemex gas station in Mexico City, January 13, 2015. | Photo: Reuters
By Raul Burbano, Gordon Laxer and
Anna Zalik
A new round of talks to renegotiate NAFTA is being held in Montreal City
January 23rd to 27th 2018. Canada and Mexico should discuss the
energy proportionality rule in NAFTA’s chapter 6 that requires a member country to make available for export the
same percentage of energy as it has in the past three years. It removes a member country’s sovereignty to
determine its level of carbon fuel exports, the price at which it sells its oil to its own people and hinders climate
change action.
Jean Chretien ran his winning election campaign in 1993 on the Liberal Red Book that promised to renegotiate
NAFTA to get “the same energy protection as Mexico”. Mexico rejected NAFTA’s energy proportionality rule then
on sovereignty grounds, got an exemption from it, but wants to accept it in NAFTA 2.0. Chretien buckled when
he was rebuffed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. Ottawa and Mexico City were right then, and should jointly
eliminate proportionality now.
At the behest of Washington, Alberta and Big Oil, Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government inserted energy
proportionality into the 1989 Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. The aim was to prevent the next Liberal
government from implementing another national energy program (NEP) like that of Pierre Trudeau’s government.
The NEP cut oil exports to the U.S. in the west so the oil could be supplied to eastern Canadians who relied on
oil imports, putting them at the risk of international oil supply crises.
Putting proportionality into an international trade agreement is like constitutionalizing it. It’s hard for the next
government to undo it no matter how much it and the voters wish to do so.
The proportionality rule was folded into NAFTA. It obliges Canada to make available to the U.S. 52 percent
of our natural gas output, 74 percent of our oil production and 11 percent of our electricity.
No other industrial country has given another country first access to its energy resources. But Mexico may now do so.
Under proportionality, Canadian oil and gas exports can rise or fall through &market& changes — essentially decisions by Big Oil — but Ottawa cannot, as a matter of policy, reduce carbon energy exports to cut greenhouse gases (GHGs), or redirect domestic oil to displace oil imports to eastern Canadians.
Now oil interests want Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto Nieto to use Mulroney’s ploy to lock in the
privatization of Mexico’s oil and electricity industries. This runs counter to the pledges of opposition candidates Andrés Manuel López Obrador of MORENA & María de Jesús Patricio of the Zapatista movement’s National Indigenous Council. Currently, López Obrador is leading in the polls for Mexico’s 2018 presidential election. By signing onto proportionality Mexico could be stuck with privatization, no matter what the voters say. This is a major issue in Mexico, a country that historically nationalized the foreign-owned oil industry in 1938.
In the past five years, Export Development Canada provided billions of dollars to finance the recently privatized Mexican energy sector. To pave the way for the denationalization of the energy sector, workers were displaced
in a range of national energy industries, sparking much protest. In
workers in Mexico's energy utility were laid off in one day.
Export Development Canada also helped finance the seven natural gas pipelines TransCanada built or is building in Mexico. TransCanada delivers sharply increased imports of U.S. natural gas to Mexico’s electricity grid. This has gone hand in glove with reduced Mexican energy sovereignty, fewer jobs in producing energy, and the potential displacement of infrastructure for renewable energy.
These changes have brought misery and sparked mass protests against the removal of subsidies on Mexican fuel. Rising gas prices, known as the 'gasolinazo', prompted price rises on basic commodities earlier this year.
Energy proportionality is bad for Mexico and Canada. It undermines the ability of both countries to take control over their production of greenhouse gases and their own energy sources. During current NAFTA talks, both countries should demand an end to the proportionality rule and create conditions for energy sovereignty.
NAFTA is supposed to aid trade among the three North American countries, not derail democracy. If Mexicans wish to elect López Obrador to reverse the denationalization of Mexico’s energy sector, that should be their right.
Raul Burbano is the Program Director for Common Frontiers Canada.
Gordon Laxer is author of “After the Sands. Energy and Ecological Security for Canadians” and the founding Director of Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta.
Anna Zalik is a Professor the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University
December 6, 2017
The real question on NAFTA and agriculture
By Karen Hansen-Kuhn
Agribusinesses and commodity groups have been raising alarms lately about the potential impacts of withdrawal from NAFTA, at a time when farmers are already reeling from low prices and falling incomes. Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration has not yet conducted any analysis of what NAFTA withdrawal would mean for agriculture or other sectors. Instead, we are left to wonder if the threat of withdrawal is a bluff or a real possibility. The focus should be on the rules we need for fair and sustainable trade and food systems.
The companies are worried that Mexico would raise tariffs to levels that would make U.S. exports more expensive than similar goods from competitors in Brazil, Argentina or elsewhere. It is also possible that ending NAFTA would disrupt the highly integrated supply chains for meat and feed and generally lead to greater uncertainty over investment decisions.
These are real concerns, but the focus on increasing exports to solve the ongoing farm crisis is dangerously incomplete. NAFTA began just before the game-changing 1996 Farm Bill. U.S. farmers were promised that past policies that set floor prices and managed supply were no longer necessary: Instead, they were encouraged to expand production and export their way to prosperity. Crop prices plunged almost immediately following the ’96 Farm Bill, and since then prices have been volatile, but mostly low. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has calculated the extent of dumping of major commodity crops, i.e., exports at below the cost of production. As of 2015, U.S. corn was exported at 12 percent below the cost of production. Since NAFTA, more than 2 million Mexican farmers, unable to compete with these cheap imports, have been driven off their land. At the same time, more than 200,000 small and medium scale U.S. farmers have left agriculture since NAFTA, while corporate concentration in seeds, processing and other aspects of production increased dramatically.
The disruption of NAFTA withdrawal could affect family farmers on both sides of the border. Under WTO rules, Mexico has the right to raise tariffs substantially on many farm goods. The U.S. has mostly committed to lower tariff ceilings, but there are some exceptions, such as imports of red meat, for which the U.S. currently applies a 18 percent tariff on imports from non-NAFTA countries. However, both countries could decide to apply tariff rates (which would apply to all trading partners) that are much lower than the ceilings they have committed to under the global trade rules.
December 6, 2017
Fuera JOH!!! Desde Montreal
December 5, 2017
Communiqué de Québec Solidaire face à la situation au Honduras
Le dimanche 26 novembre 2017, le Honduras a organisé des élections pour le président, l’Assemblée nationale et les maires. En prévision des élections, le Honduras a connu une escalade de la militarisation et de l’intimidation visant à faire peur aux partisans de la coalition de l’opposition.
Au milieu des allégations de fraude, le TSE (Tribunal électoral suprême ), qui est responsable de la supervision des élections, n’a toujours pas déclaré de vainqueur du scrutin présidentiel de dimanche.
Avec 60% des bulletins de votes comptabilisés, le TSE a annoncé dimanche les premiers résultats en faveur du candidat à la présidence de l’Alliance d’opposition à la dictature, Salvador Nasralla, en tête de 5% par rapport au candidat sortant Juan Orlando Hernandez. Deux membres du Tribunal électoral suprême (TSE), Marco Lobo et Eric Mejia, ont déclaré que le candidat à l’élection de l’Alliance de l’opposition, Salvador Nasralla, était irréversible.
Inexplicablement, les autorités électorales ont alors cessé de donner des résultats pendant plus de 24 heures. La longue pause dans les résultats a conduit de nombreux membres du parti de Nasralla à soup?onner une fraude et ses partisans sont descendus dans la rue en signe de protestation.
Mardi, le TSE a finalement commencé à publier des totaux de votes qui ont montré que la chute rapide de Nasralla, et les résultats de mercredi matin ont montré qu’il a diminué d’environ 1%.
Plusieurs observateurs internationaux des élections dans le pays ont déclaré que les irrégularités lors du dépouillement des votes pourraient être une fraude potentielle au profit de Juan Orlando Hernandez. De même, d’éminents groupes de la société civile au Honduras ont accusé la TSE de ralentir la publication des comptes, car il semblait que le président sortant se dirigeait vers une défaite.
Il est proposé que Québec solidaire:
Demande au gouvernement canadien de rompre le silence sur la répression, la corruption et l’impunité qui a été systématique au Honduras depuis le coup d’?tat de 2009.
Appelle le gouvernement canadien à cesser tout soutien politique et économique au gouvernement hondurien jusqu’à ce que les résultats des élections puissent être examinés par des observateurs internationaux et déclarés libres et équitables, et jusqu’à ce que la situation des droits humains s’améliore dans le pays.
December 4, 2017
Local Events to Denounce the Electoral Coup in Honduras
Cacerolazo Denouncing Electoral Coup D'état in Honduras
Ottawa, ON
Wednesday Dec 6
130 Albert St
Toronto, ON
Wednesday Dec 6 @ 6 pm
Yonge-Dundas Square
December 1, 2017
Media Advisory
Public Forum - What's Up with NAFTA?
The Impacts on Jobs and Equity
Date: Monday, December 4, 2017
Time: 7 pm
Place: Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street, Toronto
Keynote Speakers:
&&&&- Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress
&&&&- Armine Yalnizyan, Economist
On December 11, 2017, the next round of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) re-negotiation talks commence in Washington. There has been considerable public debate about President Trump's agenda and what it might mean for some Canadian industries including auto manufacturing and provisions such as the dispute settlement mechanism. However, little attention has been paid to issues such as: the potential impact on jobs in the other manufacturing sectors and the huge service sectors of our economy, both public and private services, and what this means for women, racialized workers and others employed in these sectors.
The Good Jobs for All Coalition is presenting this timely public forum on the NAFTA talks and the potential impacts on jobs and equity. Following the keynote speakers, respondents will link the trade talks to mobilizing for alternatives and an agenda of good jobs for all:
Deena Ladd, Coordinator, Workers Action Centre
Natasha Allen, Toronto Community Benefits Network
Raul Burbano, Coordinator, Common Frontiers
Founded in 2008, the Good Jobs for All Coalition is a broad based coalition of more than 30 community, labour and environmental organizations in the GTA.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Susan McMurray: 416.882.2247
Laurell Ritchie: 416.917.0047
Winnie Ng: 647.291.3511
November 30, 2017
Concerns about election tampering
during Honduran Presidential election
Photo Credit -- Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle
Common Frontiers expresses profound concern over the environment of intimidation in Honduras leading up to the elections and the electoral process itself, which has been plagued by delays and a lack of transparency during the vote tally.
We are also concerned by allegations of election tampering and falsification of elections results.
On Sunday November 26, 2017, Honduras held elections for president, the National Assembly, and mayors.
Leading up to the elections, Honduras experienced escalating militarization and intimidation intended to strike fear in opposition coalition supporters.
Former President Manuel Zelaya's leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) and Salvador Nasralla’s centrist Anticorruption Party (PAC) had joined to form the Alliance Against Dictatorship coalition to run in the elections.
Hernandez’ National Party has control over many of the country’s institutions, including the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the Supreme Court, that eliminated terms limits so he could run for re-election.
Amid allegations of fraud, the TSE, which is responsible for overseeing elections, still has not declared a winner in Sunday’s presidential vote.
With 60% of ballots counted, the TSE announced initial results on Sunday showing Alliance Against the Dictatorship's presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla leading by 5% over incumbent National Party candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez. Two members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Marco Lobo and Eric Mejia, stated the Opposition Alliance candidate Salvador Nasralla's lead in the vote was irreversible.
Inexplicably, election authorities then stopped giving results for more than 24 hours. The long pause in results have led many in Nasralla's party to suspect fraud and his supporters have taken to the streets in protest.
On Tuesday, the TSE finally began releasing vote totals which showed, Nasralla’s lead dropping rapidly, and by Wednesday morning results showed that it has shrunk to about 1%.
The European Union election monitoring delegation has criticized the TSE for lack of transparency and for failure to document where the votes tallies were coming from.
Several international elections observers in the country have said irregularities during the vote counting could be potential fraud intended to benefit Juan Orlando Hernandez. As well, prominent civil society groups in Honduras accused the TSE of slowing its release of tallies because it appeared the incumbent president was headed toward a loss.
Hernandez has increasingly militarized the Honduran police and adopted a military style approach to the problem of migration, drugs and crime, an approach favoured by the White House administration - the steady increase of U.S. assistance to the Honduran armed forces is an indicator of tacit U.S. support.
We call on the Canadian government to break its silence about repression, corruption and impunity that have been systematic in Honduras since the 2009 coup.
We call on the Canadian government to stop all political and economic support for the Honduran government until election results can be scrutinized by international observers and declared free and fair, and until the human rights situation in the country improves.
We call on the international community to stay vigilant in order to ensure the democratic will of the Honduran people is respected without repression, fear or violence.
November 29, 2017
Respect the Plebiscite of November 26
As a human rights organization, the Committee of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras, COFADEH, respectful of the truth and a promoter of justice, informs the world of the following:
On November 26, the people of Honduras transformed the general elections for public office into a Plebiscite that said NO to re-election, continusim, the coup de’ tat and corruption This collective voice must be respected.
In the next few hours, the only actor responsible for any disturbance of the public order is the cartel of organized crime forcing a negotiation of impunity with the irrefutable winners of Sunday’s plebiscite, because they need a pardon in the future.
Those indirectly responsible will be the governments and multilateral organizations that recognize any imposter government that proclaims triumph based on adulterated data, and the Armed Forces, churches and media that endorse this tragedy that the spurious Electoral Tribunal is attempting to legalize.
We call on the international community to demand the demilitarization of the streets of Honduras, a ridiculous spectacle of brute force that only confirms the partiality of those who supported the 2009 coup de’ tat with the
losers of 2017, and to permit freedom of expression for the people of Honduras without repression, fear or violence.
As members of the Citizens Convergence against Re-election and Fraud, we call its national leadership to urgently convene, this very Wednesday, in order to define the actions to be taken in the critical hours of this national context.
This is not about an electoral duel between urban and rural Honduras, impoverished by the criminals and corrupt, it is about an assault on the will of the people of Honduras expressed in the PINU, LIBRE and Liberal Party, and has said no to the construction of a dictatorship of terror on the part of criminals and the murderers of the 80’s converted into members of Congress.
Of the acts and the actors, on the eve of our 35th anniversary:
!!!ni olvido ni perdón!!!
November 27, 2017
Justice Now! Eight Years of Impunity Since the Murder of Mariano Abarca in Chiapas, Mexico
Eight years ago today, Mariano Abarca was assassinated in front of his family restaurant in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. A father of four and founding member of the Mexican Network of Mining Affected People (REMA), Mariano Abarca was killed in connection with his leadership in the fight against the social and environmental impacts of Blackfire Exploration’s barite mine that operated for two years in Chiapas. Prior to his murder, Mariano received threats and attempts to intimidate him, including being imprisoned without charge for eight days on trumped up allegations filed by company representatives. All of the suspects in his murder have some connection to the Calgary-based mining company, but the Abarca family has yet to obtain justice in Mexico or in Canada.
In June of this year, the Abarca family along with the Human Rights Centre at the Autonomous University of Chiapas, Otros Mundos Chiapas and REMA, presented a complaint against Mexico to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. They allege that the Mexican state is responsible for failing to take the necessary measures to protect Abarca’s life and for not carrying out a serious, objective, and impartial investigation into his murder. The petition further argues that the Mexican state let itself be influenced by repeated Canadian Embassy interventions on behalf of the company.
The petition cites information obtained under an access to information request and reported on by the United Steelworkers, Common Frontiers and MiningWatch Canada that showed how Embassy support for the company was essential for putting the mine into operation and managing the conflict that quickly emerged as local residents became upset with the environmental and social impacts from the project. According to the documentation obtained, the Embassy closely monitored the growing conflict, and yet disregarded complaints raised by Mariano Abarca and others, not only about environmental impacts from the mine, but also about armed workers acting as shock troops for the company. When Mariano was detained for eight days without charge, the Embassy received 1,400 letters from Canada and across Latin America expressing dire concern for his safety. But its communications with Mexican state officials, as revealed in the access to information release, were instead oriented toward protecting the company’s interests. Even after Mariano’s murder and after the mine was shut down on environmental grounds, the documentation shows that the Embassy still provided support to the company, advising it about how to sue the Mexican state under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The situation in Mexico and the region has only worsened since Mariano’s murder: land and environment protectors face ever more dangerous circumstances in which to defend their lives and wellbeing, and are frequently subject to legal persecution and demonization in the press. Research undertaken by the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project has found that between 2000 and 2015, there were at least 44 deaths, over 400 people injured, and over 700 cases of criminalization in connection with 28 Canadian mining companies operating in 13 countries in Latin America. In this study, Mexico was found to be one o and just this month, Victor and Marcelino Sahuanitla Pe?a were murdered in the context of a labour dispute at Torex Gold’s mine in Guerrero.
The undersigned organizations wish to extend our ongoing solidarity with the efforts of the Abarca family, Otros Mundos Chiapas, the Human Rights Centre at the Autonomous University of Chiapas and REMA to seek justice for the criminalization and murder of Mariano Abarca and all those who have been murdered, threatened, violently displaced, legally persecuted, demonized or dispossessed of their land, water or livelihoods as a result of the context of impunity in which Canadian mining companies are operating in Mexico and much of the region, as well as all of those who are working to defend their water, land, lives and wellbeing to prevent such harms from taking place.
In this vein, we urge the Canadian government to stop intervening on behalf of companies operating abroad and to respect Canada's commitment to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by replacing its corporate social responsibility strategy for the extractive sector with measures to ensure fundamental respect for peoples’ right to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent before any mining activities occur. This must be accompanied by effective access to Canadian courts for personal and collective damages, criminal prosecution of serious abuses, and an independent human rights ombudsman office with robust powers to undertake effective investigations to help redress and deter harm. The existing model of trade and investment protection agreements that allows companies to sue governments in international tribunals must also be replaced by a new model of cooperation and exchange among nations that puts people, workers, and the environment first.
Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network
British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU)
Committee for Human Rights in Latin America (CDHAL)
Common Frontiers
Council of Canadians
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
L’Entraide Missionnaire
Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network
Mining Injustice Solidarity Network
Mining Justice Alliance
MiningWatch Canada
PBI Canada
Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
United for Mining Justice
United Steelworkers
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November 23, 2017
Letter requesting Canadian government collaboration with Costa Rican investigation
Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dear Ministers:
We, the undersigned, are requesting that the Canadian government respond to any and all requests for information that may be submitted to Canada by Costa Rica’s new Attorney General, Emilia Navas, with regard to an alleged transfer of funds in 2008 from Canada to Costa Rica. This is related to a previously closed case involving the ex-President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, which has been re-opened by Attorney General Navas. Arias is being investigated for possible malfeasance with regard to a possible transfer of $200,000 to the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress just prior to the issuance of an Executive Decree by then-President Arias to permit Canadian mining company, Infinito Gold, to proceed with an open-pit gold mine, despite an existing prohibition against open-pit gold mining in Costa Rica.
The former Attorney General for Costa Rica, Jorge Chavarria, has recently had to step down from this post under a cloud of suspicion, and the new interim Attorney General, Emilia Navas, has moved to re-open several of the cases closed down during Chavarria’s time. Prime among these is file 12-1-PE (or File) to investigate the motivation behind Arias’ sudden 2008 Decree declaring the immediate development of the Crucitas mining project to be &in the public interest and of national convenience".
When the Arias/Infinito File was closed in 2015, former Attorney General Chavarria stated that the case against Arias lacked sufficient evidence because Canada had not provided Costa Rica with the requested documentation regarding a possible transfer of funds in 2008, after Infinito Gold’s major shareholder visited the Arias Foundation in San Jose. Through two Freedom of Information requests in Canada (# and #) in 2013 and 2014, we were able to ascertain that the RCMP had been in touch with Interpol about this case. Despite its significance to the Costa Rican request, any information they may have assembled and passed on to Canada’s Department of Justice was never shared by Canada with Costa Rican officials. This apparent unwillingness of Canadian authorities to supply the requested documentation allowed Chavarria with an excuse to suggest closing down the investigation and Arias did not go to trial. It is worth mentioning, however, that Arias’ Minister of the Environment, Roberto Dobles, who co-signed Arias’ 2008 Decree of National Convenience, was found guilty of malfeasance and received a three year prison sentence (under appeal).
The recent request from Costa Rica’s Public Prosecutor to re-open this File states: &Following the recent juridical analysis done of the case, it has been determined that it is necessary to deepen the search for new evidence that, at the time, was not incorporated into the investigation’s file.& In order for the new Attorney General of Costa Rica to get to the bottom of this case it is vital that she gain access to the information that Canada’s Department of Justice gathered previously, but never shared with the Costa Rican authorities.
Canada’s current government has stated an interest in reversing the ‘bad neighbour’ image projected by the previous Canadian administration. In light of this, we urge the Canadian government to cooperate with the appropriate Costa Rican authorities to provide the necessary documentation in a complete and timely manner that will allow them to adequately judge the merits of this case.
Thank you for your attention in this important matter.
Sincerely,
Jen Moore, Latin America Program Coordinator, MiningWatch Canada
&&&&&613-563-3439
Brent Patterson, Political Director of the Council of Canadians
&&&&&613-233-2773
Raul Burbano, Program Director, Common Frontiers
&&&&416-522-8615
November 13, 2017
#SinPueblosEtnicosNoHayPaz
Click on the image for larger view of poster
Join in on an International Week of Vigils for Indigenous, Afrodescendent, Rural Communities and Social Movement Leaders in &Post Accord& Colombia, November 12-18, 2017
Organize a vigil alongside those planned in Toronto, Quebec City, Montreal, Sault Ste. Marie, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Barcelona, London and other cities.
Details for each city are being added as they develop.
Afrocolombian, indigenous, social leaders and activists in “post accord” Colombia are under continued threat of death, displacement and exclusion even as the peace accords with FARC are being implemented.
In only the month of October, there were three massacres of Indigenous and Afro-descendant people in Tumaco, Meta and Cauca. There have also been targeted killings of Black, indigenous and rural leaders, occurring at an alarming rate. According to Colombia's Ombudsperson, over 186 social leaders have been assassinated since 2016. Sources estimate that over 80 leaders have been killed since the peace accords were signed in November last year.
Wear black and light a candle in honour of those who have lost their lives defending peace, their communities, political and territorial rights.
Upcoming Events
Sault Ste. Marie, ON
Sacred Fire Vigil for Peace for All in Times of Violence in Post-Accord Colombia.
Tuesday, Nov. 14 @ 10 AM
Sacred Fire: A 12 PM Feast and Dialogue with Creative Display: The Speakeasy.
Organizers: Algoma Community Collective
Nashville Tenesee:
November 15, 6-7:30pm
Flatrock Coffee
Colombia Solidarity Vigil and talk!
Organizer: Witness for Peace
Toronto ON
Wednesday, Nov. 15 @ 6-7 pm.
393 Bloor St. West
@ Matt Cohen Park (South-East corner of Bloor and Spadina)
Organizers: Colombian Action Solidarity Alliance – CASA; Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network – LACSN; Colombia Working Group and Common Frontiers.
Toronto ON
Book reading “Bienaventurados lxs que hacen la Paz: Peregrinaje en el Bosque del Norte de Colombia”
Friday, Nov. 17 @ 7 pm.
Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue (St. George Sbwy Station)
Organizers: All for Guatemala, Guatemala Community Network.
Endorsers: CASA, LACSN and CASA Maiz.
Quebec City QC:
Messe Dominicale &Que la paix soit avec eux&
Dimanche, le 19 novembre, ? 14H00.
?glise Notre Dame de Foy, 820 rue Chanoine-Martin, Québec.
Organizers: Conseil Diocésain de Développement et Paix de Québec et la Pastoral Catholique L L’Association des Victimes du Conflit Arme Colombien au Canada – ASOVICA.
End violence now!
The Colombian government must implement the Ethnic Chapter of the Peace Accords!
End foreign investment that continues to exacerbate violence and undermine human rights!
Ensure an indigenous, afrocolombian and gendered perspective on peace!
Peace needs to be guaranteed for those most affected by war!
#SinPueblosEtnicosNoHayPaz (without ethnic peoples there is no peace)
Send your planned date and location of a vigil or event in support of peace in Colombia to:
November 12, 2017
OPINION: Association Concerning the Situation in Venezuela - a party of two
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro AP PHOTO
BY ANDREW DEKANY
The Trudeau cabinet, on the recommendation of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, recently made a regulation that said all Canadians have to boycott 40 named individuals in Venezuela.
The government purported to act under the Special Economic Measures Act which gives it authority to make such regulations. That act gives two grounds for the government to do so.
The first one is easily understood: When there is a serious international crisis as a result of a grave breach of international peace and security. Canada has passed such regulations regarding various countries: Burma, 2007; Zimbabwe, 2008; Iran, 2010; Syria and North Korea, 2011; and South Sudan, Russia, and the Ukraine, 2014.
Whether or not all Canadians would have agreed with each of these regulations, it is fair to assume that all would have understood why they were made.
The second ground is more difficult to understand. It is the one that was used against the Venezuelan individuals because there is no obvious evidence that the domestic violence in Venezuela would lead to a serious international crisis.
Under this second ground, it is still possible to make such a regulation when Canada wants to act in solidarity with an international organization of states or association of states of which it is a member.
If the association of nation states feels that the principles of law by which a nation state ought to abide have been torn apart, it can call on its members to take economic measures against that foreign state.
What is most peculiar is that in the case of the Organization of American States, a major organization of which both Canada and Venezuela are members, there was no such consensus against Venezuela.
So, in order to rely on the second ground, Canada had to find another association of nation states. This raises the question whether Canada is acting as a country that adheres to the rule of law or subjugates itself to the wishes of the United States.
On Sept. 5, 2017, Canada and the United States purported to form the Association Concerning the Situation in Venezuela. That very same day this newly formed “association” decided to call on its members, Canada and the United States, to boycott Venezuela and Venezuelan individuals.
Yet, the United States already had instituted a boycott against a number of Venezuelan individuals, many of whom were among those boycotted by Canada when it later made its own regulation.
The rule of law arises because we know there is no evidence against these 40 Venezuelans that they are precipitating a crisis of any kind and none is offered in the regulation itself. Nor do they have a right to challenge their inclusion in the regulation by way of an independent administrative process conducted in a transparent and fair manner.
Among those identified as enemies of democracy without any proof are the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Venezuela and seven other supreme court judges, as well as Venezuela’s comptroller general, a senior Venezuelan diplomat, the country’s president, vice-president, two government ministers and attorney general who had been the country’s ombudsperson, and the president and vice-president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council.
This is an issue of great concern to our own Parliament because it believes in the rule of law. One of its committees has expressed serious concerns about not giving boycotted individuals or firms a sufficient chance to contest such a boycott. The Trudeau government did not heed this caution.
It bodes ill for our claim to be an actor for human rights on the international stage.
— Andrew Dekany is a lawyer who has practised in social welfare and civil rights at all levels of the judicial system.
-This article originally appeared at
on November 5, 2017
November 7, 2017
Realities Facing Ethnic Communities in Post Accord Colombia- Webinar
November 1, 2017
NAFTA Change Could Affect Northumberland Agriculture
By Valerie MacDonald
Northumberland Today
NORTHUMBERLAND -- Published reports detail a number of concerns Canada's Foreign Minister is having with some U.S. proposals for updating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and some of these are shared by the Northumberland Chapter of the Council of Canadians.
In Monday's news report, Minister Chrystia Freeland, who heads up Canada's negotiations, laid out her concerns that included arbitration panels and termination of the trade deal if it isn't renewed every five years.
The U.S. proposal &would allow countries to bypass nation courts in tariff disputes,& one report states.
Even before taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump was taking shots at NAFTA but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintains talks will go ahead in good faith.
&Nothing will distract us from the positive approach we're taking to those negotiations,& Trudeau is quoted as saying in a published report.
NAFTA talks are to continue into 2018 after another round this month, although they were initially to conclude this year.
The local Council of Canadians Northumberland Chapter are continuing to watch NAFTA negotiations, and recently talked with local riding MP Kim Rudd about details they want to see included.
&I had a fruitful and in-depth discussion regarding NAFTA with members of the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, and have met with this organization several times since being elected,& confirmed MP Kim Rudd after the most recent sitdown.
&I was happy to have their concerns raised to me directly. They are always knowledgeable, and provide an excellent resource to me in these matters.&
Rick Arnold is a member of the local Council of Canadians' trade committee who attended a parallel event by civil organizations in September during the NAFTA negotiations in Ottawa.
The meeting between the local CofC and MP Rudd took place recently, and he provided the following overview of the concerns they discussed, and which was also sent to MP Rudd for her comments.
Among the CofC concerns discussed in the CofC summary were:
1. &The need to protect Canadian farmers, and local control over food and farm policies. This would mean protecting Supply Management presently existing in the dairy, egg, turkey, and chicken sectors. We noted that both Minister Freeland, and Prime Minister Trudeau had stated they would defend supply management.
&Ms. Rudd assured us that the Liberal government was firm in its resolve to protect supply management and that she personally supported supply management. She was aware of the significant economic contribution the farming industry made to Northumberland County and Canada. She also conveyed that she supported the need to protect food sovereignty and local control over food.&
2. &The need to eliminate NAFTA Chapter 11, the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) component. ISDS makes it less risky and expensive for corporations to invest abroad, and empowers them to sue governments over domestic policies that protect (for example) public health and the environment. This is done by going before an international tribunal of three corporate lawyers who can order that unlimited compensation be paid to the corporations by taxpayers.
&Ms. Rudd said that she understood that the Liberal government is seeking some amendments to the existing ISDS clause in NAFTA but did not know what they were.&
3. &Have better representation from the Indigenous Peoples at the main negotiating table.
&That one place for the leader of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in a 13 person 'consultative committee' does not accord the respect that indigenous people are due by virtue of being the original inhabitants of North America.
&Ms. Rudd explained that this was more difficult than it initially appears since the &different First Nations do not feel represented by one body. For example, not all the First Nations feel represented by the AFN;& and
4. And better transparency about the outcome of the various rounds of negotiations.
While local groups like the Northumberland Chapter of Council of Canadians want the Liberals to push for gains through NAFTA, Trump continues to at least posture about walking away from the trade deal altogether.
October 24, 2017
Workers Say NAFTA’s Neoliberal Foundations Need to Be Dismantled from the Left—Not the Right
By Jeff Schuhrke
Workers gathered in Chicago to call for transnational labor solidarity in the fact of NAFTA. (Jeff Schuhrke)
Rejecting both economic nationalism and free-market fundamentalism, workers across North America are building transnational solidarity and demanding labor rights for all.
Last week, nearly 60 representatives of unions and civil society organizations from Mexico, Canada and the United States gathered in Chicago for a two-day meeting to discuss strategies for collaboration as their governments renegotiate the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The meeting was coordinated by the
and , an international civic education institution affiliated with Germany’s Left Party. While many Mexican unions , only the country’s more independent and democratically run labor organizations attended.
“We’re discussing what kinds of relationships can be built, either bi-nationally or tri-nationally,” Benedicto Martínez, a national co-coordinator of Mexico’s , or Authentic Labor Front (FAT), told In These Times. “At the forefront of our vision would be the rights of people, including better wages, better education, better healthcare and immigration rights.”
Critics argue that NAFTA has accelerated the global “race to the bottom,” where governments dismantle workplace and environmental protections in order to attract capital investment.
“NAFTA has had many negative impacts. Big companies come to Mexico accommodated by the government as workers’ rights are constantly violated,” Julia Qui?ones, coordinator of the , or Border Workers’ Committee (CFO), told In These Times.
CFO organizes maquiladora workers in the northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Chihuahua. The foreign-owned maquiladoras along the U.S.-Mexico border, which produce goods for export, embody the most pernicious aspects of “free trade”: exploiting low-paid, majority-women workers and polluting their surroundings.
Qui?ones explained that maquila workers often face sexual violence from their managers, are exposed to dangerous chemicals, work 12- to 14-hour days and are frequently fired or blacklisted for trying to organize.
“Nobody benefits from these trade deals other than corporations,” said Kari Thompson, UE’s director of international strategies, in an interview with In These Times. “Not working people, not the environment, not women, not people of color, not farmers.”
The tri-national participants in last week’s Chicago gathering protested outside the Mexican Consulate Friday afternoon, calling on the government of President Enrique Pe?a Nieto to listen to the demands of Mexico’s workers in the NAFTA renegotiations. Adhering to neoliberal orthodoxy, Pe?a Nieto’s negotiators say that , not more labor protections, will benefit workers.
“We’re denouncing the fact that independent, democratic unions like the ones we represent are not being heard,” Víctor Enrique Fabela Rocha of the
(Telephone Operators Union) told In These Times. “We want a strong labor component in NAFTA. We want
as expressed by the International Labor Organization.”
October 23, 2017
What's Up With NAFTA?
The Impacts on Jobs & Equity
October 20, 2017
Toeing Trump's line, Canada backs baseless fraud allegations in Venezuela
In the span of only few months, the Canadian government has issued at least 14 statements aimed at undermining the democratically-elected government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.
The , issued on October 17 by the Global Affairs Canada, was a deliberate attempt to cast doubt on the results of the October 15 regional elections, which saw the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela win a majority of 18 out of 23 governorships, with 54 per cent of the votes.
After the results were announced, the Venezuelan opposition predictably cried fraud, as they have after nearly every election in the country, with the only exceptions being the elections where the opposition won.
Echoing the baseless allegations made by both the opposition and the Trump regime in the United States, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the &elections were characterized by many irregularities that raise significant and credible concerns regarding the validity of the results.&
However, neither the opposition nor the Canadian government has been able to provide any proof that the elections were fraudulent.
When contacted, Global Affairs Canada did not provide any evidence to back their claim that any alleged irregularities were significant enough to undermine the results.
Meanwhile, international electoral observers with the The Latin American Council of Electoral Experts, known as CEELA, were unambiguous in their statements, affirming the legitimacy of the vote.
&The vote took place peacefully and without problems… the vote reflects the will of citizens,& said CEELA President Nicanor Moscoso during a press conference Monday.
Venezuela's voting system is robust and virtually impossible to circumvent. Voters must present their voting credentials and have their fingerprints scanned before the electronic machine allows them to cast their ballot. After indicating their preference, a paper ballot is produced and deposited in a secure receptacle, their finger is then stained with indelible ink as an added security measure to ensure no one can cast more than one vote.
Mainstream outlets framed the result as a surprise, pointing to opinion polls that suggested the opposition was set to secure a resounding victory. However, polling throughout Latin America, and particularly in Venezuela, is infamously unreliable.
The election results have left the notoriously divided opposition even further divided. While some continue to cry fraud, others have castigated their colleagues for their strategy. Over the past year, the opposition pursued an &insurrection& -with violent street protests that left over a hundred dead. This strategy ultimately failed to oust the Maduro government and left the opposition and their supporters exhausted and demoralized. Some elements chose to freely participate, while others called for abstention.
Opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup conceded that the abstention of their supporters cost them many votes and ultimately many of the governorships. In an
for the Washington Post, opposition supporter Francisco Toro was forced to begrudgingly accept that the election results were indeed accurate.
Some nonetheless maintain that the election was fraudulent, pointing to &irregularities& such as the relocation of 201 polling centres. These polling centres were moved as a result of violence during Constituent Assembly elections in July, and comprised less than two percent of the 13,559 polling stations throughout the country. International observers have noted that other complaints, such as the late opening of some polling centres, ultimately had no impact on the result.
So why does the Canadian government maintain that these alleged irregularities were sufficient enough to lead them to question the legitimacy of the vote? Canada's position can be explained by their ideological drive to pursue regime change in Venezuela.
Under the leadership of Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian government of Justin Trudeau has been a major player in the Lima Group, comprised of governments in the region who oppose the Maduro government. The Lima Group was only formed after these same governments failed to achieve consensus at the Organization of American States, despite the fact that the body is lead by Luis Almagro, who has taken a hardline stance against the Venezuelan government. The Lima Group has been criticized for undermining regional integration efforts and the work of the UNASUR, which has been working to promote dialogue in Venezuela.
In a statement issued after the regional elections, the Lima Group also questioned the legitimacy of the vote and called for an audit of the results. President Maduro has expressed his support for a full audit of the elections.
Global Affairs Canada also refused to say whether they would recognize the results if the audit showed that the election results were indeed a reflection of the will of the Venezuelan people.
Canada is set to host the next gathering of the Lima Group in Toronto and Global Affairs Canada is the sponsor of a panel talk by the Canadian Council for the Americas that features a veritable who's who of opponents of the Venezuelan government. The event is also supported by several Canadian mining companies who are interested in once again exploiting Venezuela's natural resources, revealing the deep collusion between the Canadian state and Canadian mining interests abroad.
October 19, 2017
Common Frontiers raises concern over the Canadian Government
support for hardline opposition in Venezuela
Common Frontiers congratulates the Venezuelan people for holding democratic, free and fair regional elections on October 15, 2017. Since 1998, the Bolivarian process has deepened democracy in Venezuela, the government has consistently gone to the polls and to seek approval for its mandate.
We are however deeply troubled by the Canadian government’s hostile position towards Venezuela which was evident in the statement by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, expressing concern over the October 15th elections. Freeland’s statement called into question the election as “characterized by many irregularities that raise significant and credible concerns regarding the validity of the results”.
The Canadian government echoes the claims of the hard-line sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, which have failed to present any evidence to back up their accusations.
With the governing coalition winning 17 of the country’s 23 governorships in the October 15 polls and a 61% voter turnout, the opposition suffered a political defeat.
The main opposition coalition has a track record of making unsubstantiated claims against democratic institutions and the electoral process when the results do not favour them.
Freeland’s narrative runs counter to reports from international observers on the ground. The Latin American Council of Electoral Experts, composed of 1300 observers, stated that the elections were clean and transparent, with Council president, Nicanor Moscoso, stating “the vote reflects the will of Venezuelan citizens.”
It also contrasts with statements from some prominent opposition figures who recognized the legitimacy of the election results. They blame their electoral loss on a “failed strategy“ by the opposition leadership, many of whom led violent street protests this year that resulted in over one hundred deaths.
&What did not work was the leadership! The leadership has to accept that it was not successful,” said Jesus Torrealba, former Executive Secretary of the main opposition coalition MUD. “The insurrection failed, they failed at these past elections, and on top of that they don't like dialogue,” he said of MUD’s current leadership. “We lost, I say it responsibly,& said Henri Falcon, outgoing MUD governor of Lara. &We need courage to recognize truth in adversity.&
By unconditionally supporting the opposition, the Canadian government is adding fuel to the politicization in Venezuela that contributes to the conflict.
We again congratulate the Venezuelan people and recognize the solution to the present crisis in Venezuela can only come through their continued commitment to democracy, a policy of non-intervention, dialogue, and support for the country’s democratic institutions by foreign governments.
For more information contact:
Raul Burbano - ,
416-522-8615
October 14, 2017
List of #Rallies for a Better NAFTA on October 20
October 13, 2017
The impact of Venezuela’s surging inflation rate
CTV News has an interview with Common Frontiers' Jim Hodgson to talk about Sunday's election in Venezuela and the economic impact it might have on that country. Jim Hodgson is Jim Hodgson is Latin America Program Co-ordinator at the United Church of Canada.
Jim Hodgson is Jim Hodgson is Latin America Program Co-ordinator at the United Church of Canada and has been involved with Common Frontiers since 1999.
October 10, 2017
Hands Off Venezuela!
No Canadian intervention under the guise of “humanitarian aid"
(Toronto) On Monday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m. The Toronto Venezuela Solidarity Committee will undertake an action outside the Toronto office of Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, 344 Bloor St. West, at Spadina Ave.
Common Frontiers and The Toronto Venezuela Solidarity Committee will be mobilizing against Canadian intervention in Venezuela. Recently, Canada imposed sanctions against 40 officials associated with the government of Venezuela, including President Nicolas Maduro, for allegedly “undermining democratic institutions.” The gov. has also passed M-128, a private members’ motion put forward by Conservative MP Peter Kent. The motion, supported by the Liberals urges the Government of Canada to interv