Venezuela Gets Foreign aid with Maduroās Consent. Canadian State Media is āComfortableā Denying it.
By Joe Emersberger
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which is owned by the Canadian government, ran a Venezuela-related news article on 8 February. It said ā[Venezuelan president NicolĆ”s] Maduro says aid not needed in Venezuela, [opposition leader Juan] Guaido wants to allow itā. The CBC claimed Maduro āhas been firm that this country does not need handouts from abroadā.
I wrote to the CBC pointing out that Maduro had actually requested and received emergency aid from the UN in November. The CBC was therefore grossly dishonest about the presidentās position on international aid. Maduro objects to āaidā from the Trump administration largely because it has threatened Venezuela militarily, openly encouraged the Venezuelan military to perpetrate a coup, and imposed brutal economic sanctions.
Taking direct aim at all Venezuelans
The impact of the sanctions since August 2017 dwarfs offers of aid from anywhere.
About 60% of Venezuelan households have received supplies from the Maduro governmentās āLocal Supply and Production Committeesā (CLAP) program. That statistic is from opposition-aligned pollster (DatanĆ”lisis) and was mentioned in passing in an AP article in September. CLAPs distribute food and other basic products directly to households throughout Venezuela.
Trumpās sanctions take direct aim at Venezuelaās population by starving the Maduro government of revenues it needs for programs like CLAP. And last month, Trump made the sanctions far worse.
Moreover, Trumpās special envoy for Venezuela is Elliott Abrams. And heās a man who played a pivotal role in keeping US material support flowing to death squads in Central America during the 1980s. He was also involved with disguising arms shipments as āhumanitarian aidā. So thereās significant cause for suspicion.
The āpastā is present
CBC editor Paul Hambleton replied to me saying that an update was added to the article. In the text of the article, the CBC added a comment saying āVenezuela has accepted foreign aid in the past, and Maduro has not always been consistent in his statements on the subjectā. A link to the Reuters report I passed along was included in the āupdateā.
Firstly, referring to November 2018 ā only three months ago ā as āthe pastā is comically evasive. But more importantly, Venezuela is receiving foreign aid now.
ABC News reported on 2 February that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ācurrently brings in its own medical supplies and emergency trauma care to support six hospitals located across the country.ā Venezuelanalysis, meanwhile, has pointed out that both the UN and ICRC (whose work inside Venezuela requires approval from Maduroās government) have been publicly critical of Trumpās āaidā stunt. Venezuelanalysis also noted that the ICRC and UN have ā this month ā announced plans to expand their operations inside Venezuela.
I replied to Hambleton again and explained why his update was wrong. He told me the CBC article was ānarrowly focusedā and that he was ācomfortableā with it. And indeed, Western journalists are nothing if not ācomfortableā with dishonest reporting about a government that Washington has in its gunsights.
