Protests in Cuba vs. Peru: a case study in Canadian hypocrisy

[Judi Lynn]

Canada’s economic interests appear to influence our diplomatic and media response to protests and uprisings in the Global South

Owen Schalk / February 21, 2023 / 7 min read

Canada’s foreign policy record is stained with countless examples of hypocrisy, opportunism, and aversion to democracy, especially when it leads down the road of left-wing reforms. Ottawa’s hypocrisy is a result of its often pro-corporate international agenda. In countries where Canadian companies have many lucrative investments, state violence is allowed to occur without comment, while in countries which don’t serve as significant reservoirs of Canada-based capital, criticism is levelled with high frequency and virulence.

Recently, two examples have arisen that expose an obvious split in Ottawa’s attitude toward protests in leftist-governed countries and those ruled by the right: namely, the July 11, 2021 protests in Cuba and the ongoing Indigenous-led uprising across Peru.

Short-lived protests in Cuba

On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans mobilized across the country for a day of protest against supply shortages caused by the US economic blockade. Elements of the protest movement called for the overthrow of the Cuban government, including several anti-communist diaspora groups. In the US, Cuban-American officials urged the Biden administration to intervene militarily; in one case, the mayor of Miami even called for airstrikes against Cuba to support the relatively small protests.

Ottawa sided with anti-government forces inside and outside Cuba, with Trudeau officials alleging that the Cuban government’s reaction was violent, repressive, and that it criminalized dissent. In the end, one protestor died and several sustained injuries.

More:
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/protests-in-cuba-vs-peru-a-case-study-in-canadian-hypocrisy

[wnylib]

1. The US has followed the same policies in

Latin America and elsewhere. It's what corporate governments do. Commerce over human rights and democracy.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. True. Governments "... of the people, by the people..."

often have a few too many of the wrong type of people in charge.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Any effort to point it out is so often attacked with murderous hatred, too!

People must sense the wrongfulness of the evil glue holding it all in place.

So much delusion needed in sustaining such a brutal system.

Thank you, TB.

[Judi Lynn]

3. And it's done with such pomposity, too, as if it were the only right thing to do. Thank you!