Canada can sow democratic seeds in Venezuela

This week’s rigged presidential election in Venezuela has sentenced a troubled, impoverished country to another six years of vicious, authoritarian rule.

For the sake of its 34 million long-suffering citizens, this perversion of democracy begs a strong response from Canada and every nation in the world that supports the right of a people to freely choose their leaders. Because the outcome of this vote can be changed.

The challenge, however, is finding the response that will not only prove effective but also be humane.

If this were just a case of isolating the election’s phoney victor, President Nicolás Maduro, and turning the screws of economic sanctions into his regime until it falls apart, the course of action would be obvious.

But it’s not so simple. As one of the planet’s most oil-rich countries, Venezuela should be a prosperous, progressive place.

Yet Maduro’s inept, dictatorial reign has left most Venezuelans poor, hungry and downtrodden.

Years of gross government mismanagement and corruption have led to soaring inflation, with prices doubling nearly every month. Food supplies are low and most people need government subsidies to survive.

Disease is rampant. Malnourishment is common and starvation has been reported.

If a country with such entrenched, intractable problems also offered its citizens a free vote, Maduro would have been sent packing after Sunday’s election.

But he won, an outcome Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland accurately called “illegitimate and anti-democratic.”

Long before the ballots were cast, the leading opposition parties were banned from participating in the election campaign. Prominent opposition politicians were arrested.

No wonder most opposition parties boycotted the presidential election. No wonder less than half of eligible voters bothered to go to the polls.

The dilemma now facing Canada and other nations that want to help is how to hurt Maduro’s regime without hurting Venezuelans even more.

The suggestion by some in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump that Maduro should be toppled by a military coup should be a non-starter. It would be dangerous, as well as hypocritical, to employ violent, illegitimate means to replace a violent, illegitimate ruler.

A far better option is a strong, coherent and unified action-plan from the international community. Canada can be a big player in this initiative.

Canada and its fellow Group of 7 countries, along with the European Union, issued a joint statement this week declaring they are united in denouncing and rejecting the results of Venezuela’s election.

As a member of the “Lima group” of 14 countries, which includes Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, Canada has also said it does not recognize the election results.

Lest anyone think these are mere words, these statements show broad, international opposition to Maduro which should give him cause to worry and provide his opponents with hope.

More U.S.-led economic sanctions are coming, and the G7, EU and “Lima group” can all support these.

But in the interest of not increasing the suffering of ordinary Venezuelans, diplomatic options should be explored.

Canada hosts the next G7 summit in Quebec next month. This provides an ideal opportunity for some of the world’s most powerful, affluent democracies to discuss ways of prodding Maduro to restore the rule of law and democratic governance in Venezuela.

If maximum pressure is directly applied to the bogus leader of a rotten regime, something will give.