
By Yves Engler – Aug 10, 2021
Latin American governments are abandoning the controversial regime change alliance. Now itâs time for Canada to follow suit
The Lima Group, a multilateral body formed in the Peruvian capital in 2017 with the goal of instigating regime change in Venezuela through a âpeaceful and negotiated solution,â has been dealt a likely fatal blow that ought to elicit serious discussion about Canadian foreign policy in Latin America. Just donât expect the media or politicians to even mention it.
In what could be a death knell to a coalition including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia and Peru (along with several other smaller Latin American nations), Peruâs newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, HĂ©ctor BĂ©jar, called the Lima Group the âmost disastrous thing we have done in international politics in the history of PerĂș.â
Two days after BĂ©jarâs statement, Saint Luciaâs External Affairs Minister, Alva Baptiste, declared, âWith immediate effect, we are going to get out of the Lima Group arrangementâthat morally bankrupt, mongoose gang, we are going to get out of it because this group has imposed needless hardship on the children, men and women of Venezuela.â
RELATED CONTENT: Saint Lucia to Abandon the Lima Group
Prior to Baptiste and BĂ©jarâs statements, the Lima Group had lost members and its support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan GuaidĂłâs bid to declare himself president had failed. Considering its name, the Peruvian governmentâs abrupt turn against the Lima Group may mark the end of the regional alliance. In the words of Peruvian Congressman Guillermo Bermejo Rojas, âthe Lima Group has been left without Lima. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry will never again be the table for parties of imperialism.â
The Lima Group has been left without Lima pic.twitter.com/ni1mvOIz3H
— Kawsachun News (@KawsachunNews) August 9, 2021
The Lima Groupâs demise would be a major blow to the Trudeau governmentâs foreign policy agenda. The regional bloc was formed in August 2017 during the run-up to Venezuelaâs May 2018 presidential election, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland was a leading figurein its foundingâdescribed as an âembarrassingâ decision by Halifax-based professors Stephen Kimber and John Kirk.
Amidst discussions between the foreign ministers of Canada and Peru in Spring 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called his Peruvian counterpart, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, to âstress the need for dialogue and respect for the democratic rights of Venezuelan citizens, as enshrined in the charter of the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Democratic Charter.â But the Lima Group was established in August 2017 as a structure outside of the OAS, largely because that organizationâs members refused to back Washington and Ottawaâs bid to interfere in Venezuelan affairs, which they believed defied the OAS charter.
Canada has been among the most active members of the coalition. Freeland participated in a half-dozen Lima Group meetings and its second official gathering was held on Canadian soil in Toronto. That October 2017 meeting urged regional governments to take steps to âfurther isolateâ Venezuela.
At the second Lima Group meeting in Canada, a few weeks after GuaidĂł proclaimed himself president, Trudeau announced that âthe international community must immediately unite behind the interim president.â The final declaration of the February 2019 meeting called on Venezuelaâs armed forces âto demonstrate their loyalty to the interim president,â an implicit suggestion to remove the elected president.
Freeland repeatedly prodded Caribbean and Central American countries (including some of the worst human rights abusers in the hemisphere) to join the Lima Group and its anti-Venezuela initiatives. In May 2019 Trudeau called Cuban president Miguel DĂaz-Canel to pressure him to join Ottawaâs effort to oust President NicolĂĄs Maduro. The release noted, âthe Prime Minister, on behalf of the Lima Group, underscored the desire to see free and fair elections and the constitution upheld in Venezuela.â
In a sign of the importance Canadian diplomats placed on the Lima Group, the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers gave Patricia Atkinson, head of the Venezuela Task Force at Global Affairs Canada, its Foreign Service Officers award in June 2019. In a press release announcing the accolade, Atkinson was praised for supporting âthe Ministerâs engagement and play[ing] key roles in the substance and organization of 11 meetings of the 13 country Lima group which coordinates action on Venezuela.â
Activists have protested against the Lima Group since its first meeting in Toronto. There were also demonstrations held at the second Lima Group meeting in Canada, which included a disruption of the final press conference. At a talk last year, NDP MP Matthew Green suggested âwe ought not be a part of a pseudo-imperialist group like the Lima Groupâ while a resolution submitted (though never discussed) to the New Democratâs convention in April called on Canada to leave the reactionary alliance.
Hopefully the bold decisions taken by the Peruvian and Saint Lucian governments will mark the end of the Lima Group. But Canadians of conscience should seek to ensure it doesnât disappear quietly. We need a broader discussion of how Canada became a central player in this interventionist bloc, and seek a new direction for Canadian foreign policy in Latin America and around the world.
Featured image:Â Â Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland host a gathering of foreign ministers from the Lima Group, a coalition of countries formed to âsolve the Venezuela crisis.â Photo from Twitter.

Yves Engler
Yves Engler is Montreal-based writer and political activist. In addition to ten published books, Engler's writings have appeared in the alternative press and in mainstream publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, and Ecologist.
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