Canada and the Venezuela crisis

espanolEn los ultimos anos, Canada ha salido de su zona de confort en los asuntos hemisfericos para hablar y actuar energicamente, como lo expreso la ministra de relaciones exteriores, Chrystia Freeland, en solidaridad con “el pueblo de Venezuela y su deseo de restaurar la democracia y los derechos humanos en Vene­zuela”. Con sus socios del Grupo de Lima, Ca­nada impuso sanciones al regimen de Maduro, reconocio a Juan Guaido como presidente interino y convoco a elecciones libres y justas lo antes posible. El articulo identifica posibles factores que explican la politica de Canada. La propuesta principal es que la crisis de Venezue­la presenta una combinacion extraordinaria de factores nacionales e internacionales que hacen que la participacion en un impulso multilate­ral y diplomatico para el restablecimiento de la democracia sea una opcion ambiciosa pero, sensata para Canada. El articulo tambien pre­senta las criticas a esta politica y analiza el tema de los derechos humanos y la promocion de la democracia en el contexto mas amplio de la politica exterior canadiense. EnglishOver the past few years, Canada has stepped out of its comfort zone in hemispheric af­fairs, to speak and act forcefully, as Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland put it, in solidarity with “the people of Venezuela and their desire to restore democracy and human rights in Venezuela.” With its partners of the Lima Group, Canada imposed sanctions on the Maduro regime, recognized Juan Guaido as interim president, and called for free and fair elections as soon as possible. The article identi­fies possible factors explaining Canada’s policy. The main proposition is that the Venezuela crisis features an extraordinary combination of domestic and international factors that make participation to a multilateral and diplomatic push for restoration of democracy an ambi­tious but judicious option for Canada. The article also presents the criticism to this policy, and discusses the issue of human rights and democracy promotion in the broader context of Canadian foreign policy.