Ambassador calls Canada a valuable ally to Venezuelan people, despite Maduro regime's accusations

OTTAWA – The officially recognized Venezuelan ambassador to Canada said he hopes Ottawa can help bring an end to the crisis in his country and restore democracy to the Latin American nation.

Orlando Viera-Blanco represents the presidency of Juan Guaidó, who is recognized as the legitimate president by Canada, but does not control Venezuela. Governor General Julie Payette accepted Viera-Blanco’s credentials last year after the presidential crisis in Venezuela. The previous president, Nicolás Maduro, has continued its control on Venezuela, despite the Venezuelan National Assembly declaring his 2018 re-election invalid and naming Guaidó president, and amid international pressure for Maduro to step down and hold free elections, including from Canada.

Last week, in an event organized by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, Venezuela’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, representing Maduro’s government, accused Canada of being a puppet for U.S. interests in Venezuela.

“Canada has been in the centre of these events and this means that they want to create the conditions in order to attack Venezuela, to invade Venezuela, because they want to take control of our country and its wealth,” said Arreaza.

Viera-Blanco said, on the contrary, that Canada has been a valuable ally to Guaidó and the Venezuelan people. Canada is a major player in the Lima Group, which has the support of most of Venezuela’s neighbours and has called for change in Venezuela. The U.S. supports the work of the Lima Group, but is not a member of the organization.

Venezuela, a once relatively wealthy country, has seen skyrocketing inflation for years, devaluing the nation’s currency and causing shortages of both food and medicine. The collapse in oil prices in the country combined with the socialist policies of Maduro and his predecessor, strongman Hugo Chavez, have been blamed for devastating the country’s finances. Millions of Venezuelans have fled the country. After rising political unrest, thousands more were arrested by Maduro’s regime.

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Viera-Blanco disputed Arreaza’s claim that it was unfair sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other western governments that had caused his country’s economic problems. He described it as an attempt to deflect blame from Maduro’s government, which has cratered Venezuela’s economy and chased investment out of the country.

“That wasn’t created by Canada. That wasn’t created by the sanctions by Trump or anyone else.”

Official records indicate there have been approximately 40,000 cases of COVID-19 in the country, but the ambassador estimates there are many more cases not being counted right now. He said medical equipment shortages and the flight of doctors has made the pandemic difficult to treat.

Viera-Blanco said despite the Maduro regime’s fallings there is a need for a transition to democracy, to end the suffering the country’s people have faced.

He said the Lima Group should look to mediate or negotiate an end to the crisis, along with continuing to pressure the Maduro regime to step down.

“We are not looking for confrontation. We are looking for the reconciliation of a country, which in the last 20 years has been living with a lot of violence with a lot of misery,” he said. “It’s time just to create the conditions for the rebound of Venezuela.”

Viera-Blanco said his country would be able to rebound swiftly and become a major economy. But right now he said that potential is being wasted.

“In Venezuela, which is a rich country, with a lot of oil, we have no power, we have no no water. We have no medicine. We have no tools in the hospital in order to confront the situation of COVID-19.”

There are elections scheduled in the country later this year, but Viera-Blanco said those elections will be fraudulent with no international observers. He said the Venezuelan people won’t stand for that endlessly and he believes the country will return to democracy.

“In the Venezuelan culture, democracy is in our DNA,” he said. “Our goal is freedom.”

For now, Viera-Blanco said he is continuing to work with the Canadian government and non-governmental organizations to help deliver humanitarian aid.

He said the millions of refugees that have fled the country need a voice as well and he views his role as representing them as well.

“We are the second largest group of displaced people in the world after Syria, about 5.3 million people,” he said. “My role is not just to be an ambassador on a strictly diplomatic basis. I am ambassador of the pain of the Venezuelan people. I am ambassador of the misery that the Maduro regime has put upon my people.”

In addition to its work in the Lima Group, Canada has continued to condemn Maduro’s regime and pledged a total of $55 million in humanitarian aid to help people fleeing the country.

Canada’s embassy in Venezuela suspended its operations last year and Global Affairs Canada recommends against all travel to the country, because of the violence, political unrest and the shortages of food, medicine and fuel.

Venezuela’s embassy in Ottawa has largely been shuttered due both to COVID-19 and because the remaining staff are loyal to Maduro’s regime.

Viera-Blanco said those staff are providing consular services to Venezuelans in Canada and he is not looking to disrupt that, because those services are important. He hasn’t been to the embassy and said its not necessary for his work at this point.

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