Canada Kicks Out Venezuela Ambassador In Tit-For-Tat Row

Canada on Monday ordered Venezuela’s ambassador and charge
d’affaires to leave, escalating a row two days after its top
diplomat at the Canadian embassy in Venezuela was kicked out by
President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

“In response to this move by the Maduro regime, I am announcing
that the Venezuelan ambassador to Canada… is no longer welcome in
Canada. I am also declaring the Venezuelan charge d’affaires
persona non grata,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland
said in a statement.

She noted that Venezuela’s ambassador, Wilmer Omar Barrientos
Fernandez, “had already been withdrawn by the Venezuelan government
to protest Canadian sanctions against Venezuelan officials
implicated in corruption and gross human rights abuses.”

The tit-for-tat response follows Venezuela’s announcement on
Saturday that Canada’s charge d’affaires in the embassy in Caracas,
Craig Kowalik, and Brazilian ambassador Ruy Pereira were no longer
welcome.

Kowalik was accused of “nagging, constant rude and offensive
interference in Venezuela’s domestic affairs,” according to Delcy
Rodriguez, a Venezuelan official who heads a powerful body of
Maduro loyalists known as the Constituent Assembly.

Pereira was described as the representative of an illegitimate
government in Brazil — a stance Caracas has taken since
conservative Brazilian President Michel Temer replaced impeached
leftist president Dilma Rousseff.

Venezuela has riposted fiercely against growing international
condemnation of Maduro’s tightening hold on power this year.

Canada, the United States, Europe and most Latin American
nations have denounced what they call the trampling of democracy
and human rights in the once-rich South American nation, which is
now on the brink of default.

On Friday, Canada imposed fresh sanctions on Maduro and members
of his regime for alleged rights violations and corruption.

Freeland said Venezuela’s expulsion of Kowalik “is typical of
the Maduro regime, which has consistently undermined all efforts to
restore democracy and to help the Venezuelan people.”

She said that “Canadians will not stand by as the government of
Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic and human
rights, and denies them access to basic humanitarian
assistance.”

AFP

Canada on Monday ordered Venezuela’s ambassador and charge
d’affaires to leave, escalating a row two days after its top
diplomat at the Canadian embassy in Venezuela was kicked out by
President Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

“In response to this move by the Maduro regime, I am announcing
that the Venezuelan ambassador to Canada… is no longer welcome in
Canada. I am also declaring the Venezuelan charge d’affaires
persona non grata,” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland
said in a statement.

She noted that Venezuela’s ambassador, Wilmer Omar Barrientos
Fernandez, “had already been withdrawn by the Venezuelan government
to protest Canadian sanctions against Venezuelan officials
implicated in corruption and gross human rights abuses.”

The tit-for-tat response follows Venezuela’s announcement on
Saturday that Canada’s charge d’affaires in the embassy in Caracas,
Craig Kowalik, and Brazilian ambassador Ruy Pereira were no longer
welcome.

Kowalik was accused of “nagging, constant rude and offensive
interference in Venezuela’s domestic affairs,” according to Delcy
Rodriguez, a Venezuelan official who heads a powerful body of
Maduro loyalists known as the Constituent Assembly.

Pereira was described as the representative of an illegitimate
government in Brazil — a stance Caracas has taken since
conservative Brazilian President Michel Temer replaced impeached
leftist president Dilma Rousseff.

Venezuela has riposted fiercely against growing international
condemnation of Maduro’s tightening hold on power this year.

Canada, the United States, Europe and most Latin American
nations have denounced what they call the trampling of democracy
and human rights in the once-rich South American nation, which is
now on the brink of default.

On Friday, Canada imposed fresh sanctions on Maduro and members
of his regime for alleged rights violations and corruption.

Freeland said Venezuela’s expulsion of Kowalik “is typical of
the Maduro regime, which has consistently undermined all efforts to
restore democracy and to help the Venezuelan people.”

She said that “Canadians will not stand by as the government of
Venezuela robs its people of their fundamental democratic and human
rights, and denies them access to basic humanitarian
assistance.”

AFP