The Death of the "Lima Group" and Re-Birth of the Latin American Anti-Imperialist Left
AUGUST 17, 2021
BY NINO PAGLICCIA
One of the most despicable foreign policy decisions made by the government of Canada must have been co-opting a small number of Latin American countries to turn against their regional neighbour Venezuela. The plotters called themselves the Lima Group after a meeting that took place in Lima, Peru. That was much more than a casual coming together of like-minded rightwing governments. That was an intentional ganging up of eleven Latin American governments with a Canadian boss to commit an act of betrayal against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Betrayal to a shared cultural and historical background. Canada took on the leadership role in this deceiving scheme. To be specific, this happened during the government of Justin Trudeau with Chrystia Freeland as Minister of Global Affairs.
Exactly four years later, after approximately thirty ineffective bureaucratic joint declarations and several countries withdrawing, the so-called Lima Group is on the verge of being declared defunct. It is quite fitting that one of the last withdrawal from the group comes precisely from Lima. Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Héctor Béjar could not have said it any better, “The Lima Group must be the most disastrous thing we have done in international politics in the history of Peru.” But Peruvians also made an outstanding contribution to our region last April by electing leftist Pedro Castillo as president contributing to the re-birth of the Latin American anti-imperialist left.
The so-called Lima Group issued its last joint statement in early 2021 to announce that they “do not recognise the legitimacy or legality of the National Assembly [of Venezuela] installed on January 5, 2021. This illegitimate National Assembly is the product of the fraudulent elections of December 6, 2020, organised by the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro.” Do they offer any proof of the “fraudulent elections”? Of course not. They have also delegitimised the dozens of international observers present at the Venezuelan elections.
The listed signatory countries of this statement were, “Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela.” Of course Peru is now out. If you wonder how Venezuela is named on this list, the explanation is that they made up a parallel “Venezuela” with an unelected “president” Juan Guaidó. This is a fictitious, non existent entity that has no recognition by the United Nations. The UN recognises the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as a State member of the world organisation and the representatives appointed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro. If anything, this is what makes the “Lima Group” a self-appointed body with no mission statement except the unwritten aim to dismantle the Bolivarian Revolution headed by president Maduro who was democratically elected by the majority of Venezuelans in their sovereign right. More seriously, we should all be warned that The “Lima Group” pretence to be an international body is irresponsible and dangerous.
The rest of the signatory countries are headed by rightwing governments, some with grim records of human rights violations. Suffice to mention Canada-supported Colombia as an example. Political analyst Yves Engler recently wrote, “During the past month [Colombian] security forces have killed at least 50 and probably dozens more. Over 300 individuals are missing, according to Colombia’s National Movement of Victims of State Crimes, in a country with a history of political disappearances.” This is the country with which Canada, by its own admission, “shares a commitment to democracy and human rights.”
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/08/17/the-death-of-the-lima-group-and-re-birth-of-the-latin-american-anti-imperialist-left/