Canada imposes new sanctions as Venezuelan President Maduro sworn in despite global condemnation
CBC
Canada has imposed new sanctions against 14 Venezuelan officials as President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in Friday to serve a third six-year term, extending his increasingly repressive rule until 2031.
This, despite protests and credible evidence that his opponent won the election.
Venezuela's legislative palace, where he was sworn in and delivered a fiery speech, was heavily guarded by police, military and intelligence officers. Crowds of people, many sporting pro-Maduro T-shirts, gathered in adjacent streets and a nearby plaza.
Maduro accused the opposition of trying to turn his inauguration into a "world war," and said the faction's failure to stop the inauguration was "a great Venezuelan victory." He accused external powers of "attacking" Venezuela, specifically the U.S. government, and promised to guarantee "peace and national sovereignty."
"Today more than ever I feel the weight of commitment, the power that I represent, the power that the constitution grants me," he said. "I have not been made president by the government of the United States, nor by the pro-imperialist governments of Latin America."
The opposition collected tally sheets from more than 80 per cent of electronic voting machines following the July 28 election, posted the tallies online and said they show opposition candidate Edmundo González won twice as many votes as Maduro. The U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the election on the government's invitation, declared the opposition-published tallies legitimate.
Other election experts that the government allowed to witness the vote said polling records posted online by the opposition appear to exhibit all of the original security features.
On Friday, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Venezuelan officials. They target 14 current and former senior officials of the Venezuelan government, "who have engaged in activities that have directly or indirectly supported human rights violations in Venezuela," according to a news release.
These include the repression of protests following the election.
"Maduro's shameless actions demonstrate that democracy and the rule of law cannot be taken for granted. We will not tolerate the erosion of the democratic process or the repression of citizens seeking to express their rights," Joly said in a news release.
"Canada has stood by, and will continue to stand by, the people of Venezuela and their desire to live in a peaceful and democratic society."
Canada has now imposed sanctions against 131 Venezuelan individuals in total.
The European Union also imposed sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials who had a role in the country's 2024 election, including the president and vice president of Venezuela's Supreme Court, the electoral agency and others. The 27-nation bloc said those officials have put the nation's democracy at risk.
The U.S. Treasury Department also slapped a new round of sanctions on Venezuelan officials, including the president of Venezuela's state oil company, Maduro's transportation minister and state-owned airline, among others.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A Stellarton, N.S., man says he was baffled when he discovered his $2,000 non-refundable airline ticket to Texas was cancelled.
Theresa Marcotte now regrets her decision four years ago to have two heat pumps installed in her Miramichi home.
Cut the red tape and cue the white dress.
More than 400 children under the age of one have received the measles vaccine in Manitoba since the government expanded eligibility for the shot last month due to a growing number of cases.
Wildfires continue to rage in northern Saskatchewan as the province faces its worst fire season in more than a decade.
Four in five of the wildfires so far in Saskatchewan this year have been caused by humans — the vast majority of them accidentally. But experts say part of the reason they've spread so far, so fast, is another human factor: climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
Just a block away from the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan there's a garden uniting green thumbs in Lloydminster.
Shelley Lindaas has long dreamed of seeing a Kermode bear cub in person.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) report outlining the events leading to the death of Erixon Kabera answered some questions for his family and friends, but many remain.
Syed Hassan says he doesn't like to complain much. But when his wife told him she got a parking ticket on Thursday night, he knew he needed to speak out.
Following the public outcry over the Jian Ghomeshi case, some legal scholars and sexual assault survivor advocates lauded changes made to the Criminal Code that would prevent defence lawyers from surprising complainants at trial with past emails or text messages with the defendant.
The Waterloo Region District School Board has been talking a lot about the word "family" this month.
At Pedro's Island Eatery in North Rustico, owner Pedro Gameiro has long been not a fan of using seed oils for frying