October 27, 2017•Update: October 27, 2017
By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Ont.
Further sanctions may be needed against Venezuela to punish the anti-democratic actions of President Nicolas Maduro, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Toronto of the Lima group of regional Latin American countries, Freeland said Canada was considering another round of sanctions.
“Other countries should consider doing so as well,” she said. “If necessary we must put added pressure on the Maduro regime by taking concrete steps to further isolate it from the international community.”
In September, Canada leveled sanctions against 40 senior Venezuelan officials.
The Lima group, which has around 15 members including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru, took issue last week with the Venezuelan national election.
Maduro’s ruling Socialist Party captured 18 of 23 governorships, despite extreme economic hardship and intense anger at the government by millions of Venezuelans forced to tolerate food shortages and rising inflation.
Protests against the government have seen 125 deaths and thousands of arrests and injuries, and the opposition is beginning to break apart under the oppression. The Lima group urged Thursday that opposition groups remain together.
“It’s a very important point,” Freeland said. “The people of Venezuela in their struggle to re-establish democracy in their country…deserve an opposition which is united and can represent them effectively.”
