Tag: Canadian Politics, Latin America and the Caribbean,

A demonstrator holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish: “Trump unblock Venezuela” in Caracas, August 7, 2019. Photo courtesy AP. Sanctions have become the most common weapon of war used by the United States and its Western allies. Currently, around one-third of the world economy is subject

Canadian Soldiers in Haiti. Photo courtesy Combat Camera/DND/Flickr. The Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN), founded in 1981, works in solidarity with people standing up for self-determination, social justice and for the Earth in the Americas. We have been following Canada’s role in Haiti since 2004. On March 20, 2021, ARSN

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez. The Juan Guaidó farce has, finally, come to an end. The hardline Venezuelan opposition, which has long sought the overthrow of the Bolivarian Revolution even during its most popular phases, thought Guaidó was their ticket to power. Their anti-government work having

Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae. Photo by Lars Hagberg/Queen’s University/Flickr. Bob Rae wants Canada to help re-establish a Haitian military with a brutal history. In making his case, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations demonstrated his ignorance and imperial hubris. Upon returning from a recent trip to

Members from the CARICOM Alpha Company, Kingston, Jamaica, arrive at the Port-au-Prince Airport to support American troops during Operation Uphold Democracy. Photo by Sean M. Worrell/USAF. Canada is acting just like the junior imperial power it is in a part of the world this country has long considered its backyard.

US Marines patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince, March 9, 2004. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. There is something astonishingly shameless about the way the global community treats Haiti. Its former colonizer, France, made sure to stunt Haiti’s development on the way out in the form of a crushing indemnity it refuses

Thousands of Haitians protest in Port-au-Prince to demand Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s ouster, October 2022. Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery. A popular meme circulating among Haitians about a newly planned United Nations mission mockingly labels it MINUPAH (La Mission des Nations Unies pour la protection d’Ariel Henry). It’s a word

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden meet at the ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, June 9, 2022. Photo from Twitter. This year’s Summit of the Americas (SOA), held earlier in June in Los Angeles, might more suitably have been called the Summit of Some

Opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó speaks during a citizen assembly at a square in Caracas. Photo from Twitter. Nearly three years ago, on January 23, 2019, a little-known Venezuelan politician declared himself president during an outdoor rally in Caracas. Canada recognized Juan Guaidó that day. According

In this UNTV image, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks in a pre-recorded video message during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, September 23, 2020, at UN headquarters in New York. Still image courtesy UNTV. This month, there were two important developments at the United Nations that,

A supporter of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president, during election day rallies, Port au Prince, November 28, 2010. Photo by mediahacker/Flickr. It is remarkable how easily the Canadian government gets away with meddling in foreign elections throughout the Global South. Unbeknownst to most progressives, Canada is part of

Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as part of an international tour aimed at bolstering support for his challenge to Nicolas Maduro, January 27, 2020. Photo from Twitter. On November 21, Venezuelans will go to the polls to vote in important regional and municipal elections—and

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland host a gathering of foreign ministers from the Lima Group, a coalition of countries formed to “solve the Venezuela crisis.” Photo from Twitter. The Lima Group, a multilateral body formed in the Peruvian capital in 2017 with the goal

Canadian and Argentinian peacekeepers on foot patrol in Gonaives, Haiti following the overthrow of the country’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Photo courtesy the Department of National Defence. During times of instability in Haiti, progressives both in the Caribbean nation and abroad often fear impending US military intervention. This

Demonstrators in Bogota, Colombia, protest against President Iván Duque’s tax reform bill. Photo from Flickr. On May 28, right wing Colombian President Iván Duque deployed the military to Cali. The city of 2.3 million has been the epicentre of a month-long nationwide protest that forced the government to withdraw a

Last week, the Brazilian Supreme Court overturned graft convinctions against ex-president Lula da Silva, which could clear his name ahead of a possible 2022 presidential election if he decides to run. Image by hafteh7/Pixabay. On April 5, 2018, former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was arrested and jailed

Canada must end its support for the current repressive regime in Haiti. Photo by Fibonacci Blue/Flickr. Former UN ambassador Stephen Lewis, broadcaster David Suzuki, author Naomi Klein, Professor Noam Chomsky, poets El Jones and George Elliott Clarke, rock legend Roger Waters, Green MP Paul Manly, as well as former MPs

Jovenel Moïse with Justin Trudeau, April 14, 2018. Photo courtesy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru/Flickr. Sunday will be bittersweet for many Haitians. February 7 is usually a day to commemorate the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship, whose government was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986, but this

Texas-based ExxonMobil has discovered more than five billion barrels of oil and gas off Guyana’s shores, sparking a renewed territorial dispute with Venezuela. Photo courtesy JWN Energy Why is Canada pushing Guyana, an impoverished nation of 800,000 people, into conflict with Venezuela while helping multinational corporations grab its oil? Recently,

President Donald Trump introduces Juan Guaidó during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 4, 2020. Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen/Flickr. Just before this week’s inauguration of a new National Assembly in Venezuela, Canada’s Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne tweeted, “as