The Communist Party of Canada sends our greeting to the “We Are All Venezuela” solidarity meeting in Caracas taking place the weekend of September 16th, and takes this opportunity to reiterate the demand for an immediate end to efforts at ‘regime change’ in Venezuela.
In August, the United States government, headed by the administration of Donald Trump, strengthened sanctions against the Venezuelan people and threatened the country with direct military invasion. U.S. imperialism has exploited and oppressed the region, including Venezuela, for more than a century. These efforts at destabilization and the overthrow of another elected government are part of a long history of bloody intervention, including dozens of invasions, occupations, coups, assassinations and dirty wars.
Canada’s government, under the leadership of Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, has issued ten official statements since March condemning the “regime”, Venezuela’s “decent into dictatorship”, and supporting the “opposition”, which has been promoting violence and murder in the street. There has been no criticism of Trump’s war mongering in Venezuela. In fact, Ottawa’s statements and actions have been in lock-step with the United States’ efforts at destabilization and overthrow.
It should be remembered that the Canadian government has planned and supported coups in the region in recent memory, notably Haiti in 2004 and Honduras in 2009. Aggression against Venezuela should also be seen in the context of Canadian troops being deployed in Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Iraq and soon in Africa, combined with the proposed 70% increase in Canadian military spending. Ottawa is intent on following Trump into war. Defending the sovereignty of Venezuela is part of our own struggle for sovereignty and the fight to win an independent foreign policy of peace and disarmament, outside of NATO.
Venezuela has been labeled a threat to U.S. national security and called a dictatorship. The only threat that Venezuela poses is the threat of a good example. The Bolivarian revolution has provided massive gains in living standards and democratic rights for the majority of Venezuelans. Since 2009, there have been more than 1.7 million social housing units built for poor families. Since 1999, extreme poverty has plummeted from 20% to 5.4%. The power of the racist and sexist capitalist oligarchy has been reduced and different forms of popular democracy have grown.
The elections for the Constituent Assembly on July 30th showed massive participation in a process dedicated to further advancement. The Constituent Assembly has exposed the isolation of the country’s rightwing, but the U.S. is now trying to directly intervene with sanctions and threats of invasion. The struggle of the Venezuelan people to chart a path towards full sovereignty, peace and independence, is at the heart of the struggle of the people of Latin America and those around the world fighting imperialism.
We urge the labour movement and all anti-war and democratic-minded peoples in Canada to speak out against attacks on Venezuela. The Communist Party of Canada fully and actively supports the efforts of the forces coming together across Canada in September and October under the banner “We Are All Venezuela” to condemn imperialist intervention and build solidarity with Venezuela.
Central Executive Committee, CPC