How can Canada take a Government to any Court when they don't recognize them as being the Government. Everybody get a 'special bag of happy powder'? Should I highlight the lies first or wait till you do your troll routine. (notice how I decided how it will go)
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/canada-brings-venezuela-to-international-criminal-court
Canada brings Venezuela to International Criminal Court
Yves Engler
Canadian Politics,
Latin America and the Caribbean October 21, 2018
Requesting the International Criminal Court to investigate Venezuela’s government is a significant escalation in Ottawa’s
campaign of interference in the domestic affairs of another country.
Supported by five like-minded South American nations, it’s the first time a member state has been brought before the ICC’s chief prosecutor by other members.
In Canada the campaign to have the ICC investigate the Nicolás Maduro government began in May. “I would like to see the states from the G7 agreeing to refer the matter of crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court for a prospective investigation and prosecution,” said Irwin Cotler at an Ottawa press conference to release a report on purported Venezuelan human rights violations. The former Liberal justice minister added, “this is the arch-typical example of why a reference is needed, as to why the ICC was created.”
Cotler was one of three “international experts” responsible for a 400-page Canadian-backed Organization of American States (OAS) report on rights violations in Venezuela. The panel recommended OAS secretary general Luis Almagro submit the report to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and that other states refer Venezuela to the ICC. In a
Real News Network interview Max Blumenthal described “the
hyperbolic and propagandistic nature” of the press conference where the report was released at the OAS in Washington. Cotler said Venezuela’s “government itself was responsible for the worst ever humanitarian crisis in the region.”
Worse than the extermination of the Taíno and Arawak by the Spanish? Or the enslavement of five million Africans in Brazil? Or the 200,000 Mayans killed in Guatemala? Or the thousands of state-murdered “subversives” in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, etc.? Worse than the tens of thousands killed in Colombia, Honduras and Mexico in recent years? Worse than the countless US (and Canadian) backed military coups in the region?
Or perhaps Almagro, who appointed Cotler and the two other panelists, approves of the use of military might to enforce the will of the rich and powerful. He stated last month: “As for military intervention to overthrow the Nicolas Maduro regime, I think we should not rule out any option … diplomacy remains the first option but we can’t exclude any action.” Even before he mused about a foreign invasion, the former Uruguayan foreign minister’s campaign against Maduro prompted Almagro’s past boss, former president José Mujica, to condemn his bias against the Venezuelan government.
For his part, Cotler has been attacking Venezuela’s Bolivarian government for a decade. In a 2015
Miami Herald op-ed Cotler
wrote that “sanctions” and “travel-visa bans … isn’t enough.” The US government “must increase the pressure on Maduro to respect the fundamental human rights of all Venezuela’s people.” The next year Venezuela’s obstructionist, opposition-controlled National Assembly gave Cotler an award for his efforts, notably as a lawyer for right-wing coup leader Leopoldo Lopez. When he joined Lopez’ legal team in early 2015 the Venezuelan and international media described Cotler as Nelson Mandela’s former lawyer (a Reuters headline noted, “Former Mandela lawyer to join defense of Venezuela’s jailed activist”). In response, South Africa’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Pandit Thaninga Shope-Linney, said, “Irwin Cotler was not Nelson Mandela’s lawyer and does not represent the Government or the people of South Africa in any manner.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-lima-group-not-recognize-maduro-venezuela-1.4966487
Canada, Latin American countries won't recognize Maduro's new government
13 countries urge Venezuelan president to hand over power until fairer elections are held
The Associated Press · Posted: Jan 04, 2019 3:07 PM ET | Last Updated: January 4
A group of 13 countries, including Canada, pledged Friday not to recognize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's new term, which he won in elections widely condemned as illegitimate. (Marco Bello/Reuters)Canada and a dozen Latin American governments delivered a blistering rebuke to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday, questioning the legitimacy of his soon-to-begin second term and urging him to hand over power as the only path to restoring democracy in his crisis-wracked South American country.
The sharp criticism came at a meeting in Peru's capital of foreign ministers from countries including Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, all of which have been weighing how to confront the increasingly authoritarian Maduro while absorbing a growing exodus of Venezuelans fleeing economic chaos.
In a
statement, the Lima Group urged Maduro to refrain from taking the presidential oath next Thursday and instead cede power to the opposition-controlled congress until new, fairer elections can be held.
"Only through the full restoration, as soon as possible, of democracy and a respect for human rights is it possible to resolve the country's political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis," the diplomats said.
Venezuela says countries following Trump's orders
Even before announcing the resolution, the group's meeting with the participation of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo drew a sharp response from Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza.
He accused the coalition of taking orders directly from U.S. President Donald Trump, who Caracas frequently accuses of spearheading an economic war against the country.
"What a display of humiliating subordination!" Arreaza said on Twitter.
A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is in crisis after two decades of socialist rule, marked by hyperinflation making it difficult for people to afford scarce food and medicine. An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have migrated from their country since 2015, according to the United Nations.
The Lima Group formed more than a year ago to advocate for a solution to Venezuela's crisis that threatens regional instability. Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are among the group's members. The group joined the U.S. and others in condemning Maduro's re-election in May as a sham after popular opponents were banned from running and the largest anti-government parties boycotted the race.
Immediately following Maduro's May 20 re-election, the coalition announced that it refused to recognize the results, decrying the vote as failing to meet "international standards of a democratic, free, just and transparent process."
On Friday, the group vowed to block top Venezuelan officials from entering their countries and freeze assets they hold abroad. The resolution also expressed support for an effort to prosecute Maduro at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
But beyond the heated rhetoric, the anti-Maduro coalition showed signs of fraying along ideological lines.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland addresses reporters during a meeting of the Lima Group in Mexico City last May. The group formed last year to advocate for a solution to Venezuela's deepening political and economic crisis, which threatens regional instability. (Edgard Garrido/Reuters)
Regional powerbroker Mexico was one of the early and biggest promoters of the Lima Group. But it sent a lower-level representative to Friday's meeting who refused to sign the resolution, reflecting the policy of non-intervention favoured by that nation's new leftist president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Maduro travelled to Mexico for Lopez Obrador's inauguration and met privately with the leftist leader during the visit.