Will Canada stand up for democracy in the upcoming OAS elections?

Fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me.

Almagro                       Espinosa                            De Zala

 Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau allow a Chavista candidate, or a political opportunist with ties to Chavismo, become the next Secretary General of the Organization of American States? Conventional opinion expressed in The Washington Diplomat claims that the current OAS secretary general Luis Almagro has the backing of Canada, but in recent years the traditional view has often been proven wrong

Carlos E. Ponce, Senior Lecturer, Columbia University, Senior Fellow, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and former Freedom House Latin American director has written an important opinion piece in El Tiempo Latino that outlines the high stakes in the upcoming vote for the next OAS Secretary General, and the role played by Canada.

"A new election approaches to re-elect or elect a new secretary general for the Organization of American States (OAS). The competition is between the re-election of the current Secretary General Luis Almagro and two candidates who could put the very existence of the organization at risk. Those two candidates are the former Minister of Defense, and a highly trusted person to the former Ecuadorian dictator Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorian María Fernanda Espinosa; and the ambassador of Peru to the United States, Hugo De Zela."

Ponce than provides an analysis of what the institutional outcome would be if either Espinosa or De Zela is elected to the post.

"Mrs. Espinosa has not been nominated by Ecuador, her country, but by two ALBA countries, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Of particular interest is the support of a person so close to Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chávez, who is also nominated by the autocrat of San Vicente, Ralph Gonsalves, who has been supporting the narco-dictatorship of Venezuela and benefiting from that relationship. Espinosa has in her favor the ability to convince with a false, but effective discourse, which led various civil society organizations to fall in love with her. These organizations seem to forget that during Rafael Correa's government was when there was an inclement persecution against the Inter-American Human Rights System and that Espinosa was part of a government that systematically violated human rights and freedom of expression. On the other hand, the dangerous game of Argentina and Mexico, supporting this candidate, endangers the very existence of the OAS. Espinosa's triumph would return the OAS to an appendix of ideological factors that seek the destruction of the regional organization and would give the perfect excuse to the United States to suspend economic aid to that organization."

"The other candidate who wants the position of secretary general, Hugo De Zela, has a capacity for political adaptation to all the different governments that have passed through Peru in the last 42 years; He is a bureaucrat who adapts effectively to changes and manipulates institutions for his personal interest. He was the chief of staff of the most gray and noxious general secretary of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza."

In either case with the departure of Almagro, his replacement would be seeking an accommodation with Maduro in Venezuela and Castro in Cuba. This was the status quo under OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza who attended gatherings in Cuba, and dropped the ball on Venezuela as the crisis worsened and spun out of control.

This leads to the obvious question. Why would Canada not be strongly backing Almagro?

Historically, Canada has been a strong defender of human rights and fairness on the international state, but today there is cause for concern with the current government. This would be a Faustian bargain that would trade this vote for the votes of several Caribbean countries to obtain a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Recent history indicates that regional democrats and human rights defenders should be concerned.

In November 2019, Canada shifted its long time support for Israel at the United Nations backing a anti-Israel resolution sponsored by North Korea and Zimbabwe that broke years of a Canadian bipartisan consensus in defense of the one democracy in the Middle East.

The vote change is dramatic. If it wanted to shift, Trudeau's government could have moved from a No, as it voted last year with U.S., to an Abstain, as Australia voted today. Instead, they jumped all the way to a Yes—for the first time in years and breaking bi-partisan tradition. pic.twitter.com/qw3CeX4ViV

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 19, 2019

According to International lawyer, human rights activist, UN Watch Executive Director, Hillel Neuer describing the November 2019 vote, "Trudeau is trading Canada's bedrock principles of fairness and equality for a UN Security Council seat."

Reading the February 15, 2020 column by Earl Bousquet titled "Between the Bridgetown Summit and the Washington OAS Vote" should give one cause for concern on the Canadian position on the upcoming vote. Bousquet described the priorities at The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Bridgetown Summit that took place on February 17-18th and cited that Canada's Trudeau was pushing for the CARICOM's support for the UN Security Council seat. According to Bousquet, the preferred Caribbean candidate is the Chavista candidate, María Fernanda Espinosa.

Taking all of this into consideration than what Carlos Ponce describes makes alarming sense and should be a wake up call to democrats in the region, and for Canadians to ask Prime Minister Trudeau what he is doing?

Trudeau meets Castro at his father's funeral

Professor Ponce presents a disturbing picture of Canada's strategic support for De Zela that is roughly translated below:

"On this occasion, in addition to his country's nomination, he has Canada's strategic support for his candidacy. De Zela's game is clear, allow Almagro and Espinosa to confront each other and since there is no consensus, he will sell himself as the candidate who gets support in different sectors and who should be the consensus candidate. A strategy that seems to have come from Canada. The possible failure of Espinosa would lead Argentina, Mexico and the Caribbean to support the De Zela candidacy. ... The triumph of candidate De Zela would take the OAS back to a gray stage, full of political compromises and little attention to the fight against dictatorships and authoritarians of the region; in other words, a return to a time similar to that of Insulza."

However, this game played by the Trudeau government goes beyond simple vote swapping, although it is a factor. Trudeau demonstrated his affinity for the Castro regime, upon the death of Fidel Castro in 2016, with a statement that could have been authored by Senator Bernie Sanders.

“It is with deep sorrow that I learned today of the death of Cuba’s longest serving President. Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century. A legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and healthcare of his island nation."

 Prime Minister Trudeau has an unhealthy affection for Cuba's dictatorship that has killed tens of thousands of Cubans, jailed hundreds of thousands of political opponents, and driven an entire nation into misery, and assisting in the destruction of a second.  This is why the stakes later this month with the election of the OAS secretary is of such great importance. Sadly, the current Canadian government is playing a dangerous game that would deal a negative blow to the Organization of American States. Professor Ponce outlines the Canadian government's dangerous double standard between Cuba and Venezuela.

"Within the process of designating the Secretary General, the double standards of the Government of Canada are very dangerous, who on the one hand speak of the need to free Venezuela from tyranny, but at the same time openly support the dictatorship of Cuba. Not only do they support it at the diplomatic level, but with millions of Canadians going to the island for tourism and diverse support for programs in Cuba. But they also seem to punish Almagro for his defense of freedom for Cuba and have been campaigning for him not to be re-elected."

Friends of Israel were caught by surprise when Canada switched its vote at the UN back in November 2019. Friends of a free Cuba and a free Venezuela should take note and mobilize  to ensure that a nasty surprise isn't sprung later this month in the vote for the OAS general secretary.