Canada's shameful record of sucking up to Colombia's narco-fascists

Here's an excerpt from the website of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs highlighting some of the good stuff happening in Canada-Colombia relations;

Security

Colombia has also benefitted from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada’s Counter-Terrorism and Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programs.

The RCMP and the Colombian National Police also work closely in conducting investigations targeting drug trafficking organizations with the objective of ensuring safe communities in Canada and in Colombia. The RCMP has also provided technical assistance on issues such as witness protection, child exploitation and criminal science.

Colombia is a priority hemispheric partner for the Department of National Defence. Canada has had a Defence Attaché in Bogotá since 2001; Colombia recently reinstated its military attaché position in Canada. Colombia became a member of the Department of National Defence’s (DND) Military Training Cooperation Program (MTCP) in 2011. As such, the Colombian armed forces will have access to training that will expose them to Canadian values, including the need to incorporate/promote the respect in human rights in basic military training and in guidelines for operations. Canada and Colombia also hold Defence Policy Talks.

Not only that, but we've forged a free trade agreement with those folks. So what's our "historic hemispheric partner" been up to? Well, leaving aside the longstanding historic rumors of paramilitary death squads and connivance in the drug trade, lets see what's new in Colombia these days.

Oh look, the death-wishing journalists at the news magazine Semana have unearthed a massive corruption scandal in the armed forces! That very same armed forces that has been inculcated in Canadian values!

Well, at least President Santos is demonstrating some of those great Canadian values; he has ordered the Army to investigate itself, pronto.

I'm sure they'll have this cleaned up in no time flat, thanks to that training in "Canadian values."

More weapons can only be good for nascent Colombian democracy

After you gain a "free trade" agreement the next logical step is finding something to trade, and leave it to Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and roving ambassador-at-large for gay rights, John Baird, to sniff out "new market opportunities" in that bastion of gay equality.

Weapons!

Yup maybe we can sell them some automatic weapons and some armored personnel carriers!

The two-year anniversary of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement is such a universally heralded good-news story that I first read it at the Sacramento Bee.

But I suspect that's only because the Bee, like so many other news outlets, operates with unpaid interns instead of journalists and hence publishes as "news" whatever press release comes through the wire without giving it much further thought.

So is this rising tide of trade lifting all boats?...

Of course not!

Apparently "extreme poverty is on the increase..."

But at least Canada should be able to sell a few automatic rifles and armored personnel carriers.

Canada celebrates two years of "free trade" with Colombia

It's happy days for Canada-Colombia Free Trade!

Here's how minister of International Trade Ed Fast spins it in a press release,

“Our government’s ambitious job-creating, pro-trade plan is benefiting Canadian workers and their families,” said Minister Fast. “The trade agreement with Colombia has encouraged significant growth in Canadian exports. In fact, since this agreement came into force, Canadian exports to Colombia have increased by almost 29 percent.” 

It's all happy news for workers and their happy families in Canada, but maybe not so much in Colombia.

While Canadians were getting the happy talk from Ed Fast, the "faggots, guerrillas, and trade unionists" (aka the working class) in Colombia are getting death threats.

Thank goodness Foreign Minister John Baird has been lobbying to permit the sale of armored personnel carriers to the government of Colombia... they'll be able to protect the faggots, guerrillas, and trade unionists even more effectively than they have in the past!

Canada's new best friends

Once upon a time Canada was seen as a force for good in this world. We were peace-keepers and honest brokers.

Those were the days when young Americans sewed a maple leaf to their backpacks before setting out on their international adventures.

They don't do that anymore. The ascent of the Harper gang has been a game changer.

Last year Canada entered into free trade agreements with Honduras and Columbia. Those are the kind of free trade partners that the Harperites are willing to court.

According to Amnesty International Colombia "suffers a dire human rights situation." Oh well then, that would be the kind of partner we want to cultivate.

Writing in Counterpunch today, Nick Alexandrov paints an even bleaker picture of Honduras. Since the coup that toppled their democratically elected government just before Harper inked that free trade agreement, the situation there for workers, union organizers, and human rights activists has grown desperate indeed.

Again, this seems to be the kind of partner Harper is comfortable cosying up with for a free trade agreement.

Nevermind that we have now had 25 years to realize that the granddaddy of free trade agreements, the one Reagan and Mulroney signed back in 1987, was the beginning of the end for Canada's industrial sector.

And while Canada has always had a good relationship with Israel, the wholesale sucking up to the Likud crowd by the Harper gang has undermined Canada's credibility throughout the Middle East and beyond.

It's not enough that Foreign Minister Baird travels the world with his "personal" Chabad Lubovitch Rabbi in tow. Both Baird and Harper have gone out of their way to claim that no country in the world is a better friend to Israel than Canada.

Forget the occupation, nevermind the settlements, Canada will out-do even the AIPAC-addled US Senate and Congress to claim slavish adherence to the Likud party line.

It's as if Peace Now and the 70% of the Israeli population who want peace with the Palestinians don't exist.

Friends don't let friends build illegal settlements.

So forget all that peace-and-love Trudeau-era stuff. We're not peace-keepers anymore. We're not honest brokers.

And if you're planning to travel abroad, sew a Quebec flag to your backpack instead.

The Canadian one doesn't cut it anymore.