Summit of the Americas seeks to prevent deliberation on most urgent issues

Crisis-Ridden Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, California | Margaret Villamizar

On Monday, June 6 the week-long Ninth Summit of the Americas opened in Los Angeles, California.

According to the Secretariat of the OAS which organizes them, “The Summits of the Americas are institutionalized gatherings of the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere where leaders discuss common policy issues, affirm shared values and commit to concerted actions at the national and regional level to address continuing and new challenges faced in the Americas.”

Peoples of the Caribbean give ‘working royals’ a fitting reception

The visits in March and April of the so-called working members of the British royal family to Commonwealth “realms” were shocking for their display of racist condescension, extravagant living and wasteful expenditures. | Margaret Villamizar

Protest in Jamaica against the Royal Visit, March 23, 2022.

Organized to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the English throne, these “Platinum Jubilee” tours to the 14 former British colonies that retain the British monarch as their official head of state have taken different members of the “House of Windsor” to six Caribbean countries, Australia and Papua New Guinea. The latest such tour brought “heir to the throne” Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles to Canada from May 17 to 19.

Eurocentrism and racist conceptions underpin NATO’s lies and disinformation

Syrian and Iraqi refugees crossing the Aegean Sea  in late 2015.

The conception of “the world” and the “international community” the U.S., Canada and the European Union espouse is not only self-serving, but exclusionary and racist to the core | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

Get Canada out of the US war machine and Make Canada a Zone for Peace

Canadian people have consistently stood against joining the U.S. “war on terror” in Afghanistan. Above photo is of 2012 Windsor demonstration.

By Margaret Villamizar

Whatever spin Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may try to put on it, the defeat of the U.S./NATO aggressors in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban is very much a defeat for the Trudeau government and the policy of successive governments to appease the U.S. warmongers by joining or supporting their dirty wars against nations and peoples that have done Canada and Canadians no harm. These illegal wars of aggression have always been based on lies, as are other acts of war such as economic “sanctions” against countries that do not submit to U.S./NATO dictate. The war in Afghanistan was no exception.

The people and no one else will decide what happens in Venezuela

By 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.

The battle for democracy in Bolivia

People’s forces battle for their democratic rights | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

July 14, 2020 demonstration in La Paz, Bolivia.

(July 25) – Workers, women, and Indigenous peoples and their organizations along with other social movements have returned to the streets to demand an end to the wrecking of the coup government and the right to elect a president and government of their choosing without further delay. Demonstrations are being held especially in places where the workers have fighting traditions, such as Cochabamba and El Alto, a suburb of the capital city of La Paz.

Canada’s imperialist multilateralism in the race for a seat on the UN Security Council

By Margaret Villamizar

A notion that has been pushed a lot, especially since the Trudeau government decided to enter the race for a seat on the UN Security Council in 2021, is that Canada is a champion of multilateralism. In this way Canada’s meddling foreign policy is presented as different and presumably better than Trump’s obnoxious “America First” unilateralism. Canada’s imperialist multilateralism is based on its preferring to do its meddling as part of coalitions and other groups of like-minded countries rather than on its own. Canada’s attempt to convince other countries to support its bid for the UN Security Council seat is not likely to be helped by drawing attention to the defining feature of its foreign policy: its appeasement of U.S. imperialism, all down the line. Therefore a kind of diversion is put in place with a lot of noise being made about Canada’s “multilateral agenda” without explaining what it really means.

Canada intensifies subversion of Venezuela and attempts to divide Caricom

Ottawa picket against Guaidó’s visit, January 27, 2020.

(February 20) – Today the Canadian government is hosting a ministerial meeting of the Lima Group in Ottawa-Gatineau. For the information of readers, we are reposting two recent articles by Margaret Villamizar, a journalist with TML Weekly and specialist on Latin American affairs on the recent “visit” of Juan Guaidó as part of his two-week U.S.-sponsored “world tour”, and the forces in motion in Latin America and the Caribbean with the dawn of 2020. In addition, we feature reports from Venezuela and Cuba, as well as the 10th anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti commemorated  inMontreal.

No to Imperialist gangsterism! End the brutal siege of Venezuela!

By MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

On September 11, at a regular meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) the United States and 10 Latin American countries that are parties to the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, also known as the Rio Treaty, passed a resolution recommending that it be activated against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, based on Venezuela allegedly representing “a clear threat to peace and security” in the Americas. Five other countries that are also party to the treaty abstained and another was absent.[1] On September 23, at a follow-up meeting of foreign ministers of the member countries held in New York, 15 of them approved activating more sanctions but stopped short of openly calling for the use of force. Uruguay opposed the motion and announced its intention to withdraw from the treaty and Trinidad and Tobago abstaine

No to ‘regime change’ in Venezuela: Condemn US-led attempts to overthrow the legitimately constituted Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Photo of Venezuelans in the streets the morning of Jan. 23 in support of President Nicolás Maduro.

By MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

On January 23 and 24, US imperialism and the coup forces it commands took new steps to try and force regime change on the people of Venezuela. Within minutes of illegally and unconstitutionally declaring himself “interim president” of Venezuela at a mass rally of opposition supporters, deputy Juan Guaidó was recognized by US President Donald Trump as the “legitimate” president of the country. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared shortly after that the US would continue to use the full weight of its economic and diplomatic power to impose regime change, or what he called “the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.”

Fifth anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez

Long live the legacy of the founder of the Bolivarian Revolution | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

Commander Hugo Chávez Frías (July 28, 1954-March 5, 2013)

March 5 marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, historic leader of the Bolivarian Revolution and President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela from 1999 until his untimely death on March 5, 2013.

Canadian Forces take part in US military exercise off coast of Venezuela

(September 11, 2017) – From June 6 to 17 Canadian military personnel participated in Operation Tradewinds, an annual military exercise in the Caribbean sponsored and led by U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). The operation was being conducted in two phases: from June 6-12 in Barbados and from June 13-17 in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Department of National Defence (DND) described Operation Tradewinds as “a multinational maritime interdiction, ground security and interagency exercise that focuses on countering transnational organized crime and practicing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief […] in order to promote regional security cooperation.”

Canada’s anti-democratic interference in Venezuelan affairs

Parliamentary subcommittee continues to advance pretexts for regime change | MARGARET VILLAMIZAR

On May 16, the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development met to hear witnesses speak on “the deteriorating situation in Venezuela.” A good part of the discussion centred on how Canada could help “rescue democracy” in that country.

Canada and Syria: Canada’s quandary over what happens post-US election

In mid-November, Canada hosted an international meeting on Syria. None of the participants were identified | Three articles

By PAULINE EASTON

The Government of Canada co-hosted with the Netherlands a meeting in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, from November 11 to 13, to “discuss the situation in Syria.” At the meeting Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion called for international cooperation in Syria. The meeting was attended by the “Syrian political opposition” and Syrian “civil society” – what Dion calls legitimate opposition groups in Syria.