On Saturday, May 20, Canadians and Venezuelan-Canadians gathered at Grand Parade in solidarity with Venezuelans fighting against president Nicolas Maduro. I organized this gathering in response to the countless protests happening in Venezuela over the past 53 days. They started in March, when president Nicolas Maduro dissolved the opposition-led National Assembly. This means that there is currently no rule of law in Venezuela.
Many people in Canadian cities have been responding to these issues. Community-led events have been happening all across Canada in cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, in support of the people living in Venezuela’s state of crisis.
This was the first gathering in Halifax this year. The aim is to show the current reality of the country: Food shortages, economic inflation, high murder rate, the recent anti-democratic policies and the current government’s violence against protesters. At least 47 people have been killed and 750 injured in Venezuela in the past month, largely due to riot police violence.
At the gathering at Grand Parade, we held many posters and flags, in silence and mourning. We also received words of support from the Canadian Federation of Students Nova Scotia as well as Nova Scotia Public Interest Group. The names of all the deceased protesters were read, along with their ages to commemorate their lives lost. We proceeded to walk along Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road toward Victoria Park, handing out brochures urging people to get informed.
It is really important for Canadians, and Haligonians, to speak about these issues. Many of the people who have died in the Venezuelan protests have largely been youth and students. Halifax is a place where young people often exercise the right to protest without the fear of being physically and violently attacked by the forces that are supposed to protect us.
It is completely unjust and it is a human rights violation for a government to enforce physical force against its citizens. Individuals in a democracy have every right to demonstrate their opinions without fearing the end of their own lives in torture.
As a left-wing individual, it’s often difficult to explain to people how the supposed “socialist” party in Venezuela is in fact far from its name. The people in government power are the ones who have the most wealth in the entire country, mostly with oil and drug money. This narco state is corrupt and anti-democratic and is not helping our people get fed, nor fixing the economic inflation.
There are many things Canadians can do to help, such as sign petitions which urge the Canadian government to take action against this issue, they can also donate to many crowd-funding sites which are helping to provide medical support, media attention, and help to protesters.
The issues facing Venezuelans are issues of human rights and this is why we need to talk about it. Journalists are currently undergoing immense repression in Venezuela, so spreading the real and factual information coming from the protesters should be a priority for people all over the world.
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This article appears in May 25-31, 2017.
Unfortunately you are off base…If you go and talk to real Venezuelans in Venezuela you will realize this is all being fabricated to topple Maduro….there is a huge campaign going on, funded by the US and elites world wide to kill ‘Chavismo’ all of this stems from that….in a nut shell
James Shearer… Please go to youtube and watch the hundreds of real time video clips of the atrocities happening now in Venezuela. It is at all levels. The poor are even worst off than before Chavez, while the Chavistas-Maduristas are filthy rich with all the riches of the country and the drug cartel. No food, no medicine, no security, no industry. People are dying in hospitals for the lack of medicine. People are dying of hunger eating from the garbage. Babies are dying from simple infections because there are no antibiotics and if you are diabetic well, good luck because there is no insulin. Check the many different news broadcast before you comment something so inane. The country is in ruins and Chavez and his failed government is to blame. Btw. I’m a real Venezuelan.
To James shearer. I know All the conspiratory theory but the problem is that chavismo it doesn’t exist anymore. And it kill itself with all the actions that have made. All its lies. Madurismo has sel all the Amazonian to the worst transnationals.. has made expropriation of hundred of companies just for loosing all the production..has not support nationals farmers and we live more than before of importations…and the corruption it’s not importated of USA…it lives in all Venezuelan goverment… I’m not going to talk about the control of food and the way that gooverment control people right now and neither of all the dies by lacking of medicine… or all the repress issues trying to plant fear and more…but this is not a socialist system by nothing… it’s fake…
Look at the atrocities commited by the so-called ” prodemocracy ” demonstrators. They burned alive a black guy who they thought was Chavista.They attack hospitals and transportation. They use snipers to kill police. Certainly there are economic problems and mismanagement, but the USA is involved too, in economic sabotage and financial support of violent ” demonstrators”. Look at the history of Latin America. The US has supported every genocidal dictator or death squad gov’t in Latin America’s history. And don’t give me this nonsense about a “dictatorship”. The gov’t was elected democratically, and Venezuela has one of the most reliable electoral systems in the world, according to former president Jimmy Carter. Wake up.
Tim Bood and James Shearer I invite you to live in Venezuela if you believe Chavismo works for you. I’m sure all venezuelan immigrants in Canada would love it if you did! After that then your opinions may actually mean anything. Your commentaries are so offside and offensive to venezuelans that it really warrantd a response fron another ‘real’ venezuelan in Canada. Now of you are definining “real” Venezuelan someone who has deeply profited from chaviszmo and madurismo by lining their pockets with $ stolen from our descheleved oil company or many of the other exporpiated companies currently in shambles further driven to ruins by the goverment,or phony holding companis set up by goverment insiders to take advantage of the currency controls imposed by themselves, sure heck those folk would be please to stand next to you two defending what has left my beloved country in the biggest social and economic pile of doodoo that will impact many generations to come. Congrats to both you, 5 stars for swinging your opinionated uninformed views around.
“Food shortages, economic inflation, high murder rate, the recent anti-democratic policies and the current governments violence against protesters.”
Communism in a nutshell