It's Venezuela's “Berlin Wall moment” — but will Maduro hold on to power？
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Summary
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is sworn in as the new president of the country, and the rest of the opposition is up in arms. This is a Berlin Wall moment in Venezuela, as the country rises up to throw off their tyrant.
Transcript
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Tonight, it's a Berlin Wall moment in Venezuela as that country rises up to throw off their tyrant.
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Will they succeed or will Maduro hold on? It's January 24th and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
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Venezuela used to be the world's fourth richest country ahead of Canada, ahead of the United Kingdom.
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Can you believe that? It's lush and lovely and civilized and I'm not sure if you know this,
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but they actually have larger oil reserves than Canada, larger oil reserves even than Saudi Arabia.
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Their Venezuelan heavy crude, which is actually somewhat similar to Canadian oil sands oil, it's so plentiful.
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That country has the biggest oil reserves in the world.
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They should be as rich as Singapore or Hong Kong.
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Actually, they should be richer because Singapore and Hong Kong, those little countries, they don't have any natural resources.
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Venezuela is Western, it's Christian, it's educated, it's industrialized, but then it was taken over by communists.
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I mean, I guess you could call them socialists.
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There's not much difference, but I think communism is a better description, especially considering how the country has effectively been colonized by Cuba over the past 30 years.
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It's practically certain that were it not for Cuban special forces operating illegally in Venezuela, or actually Chavez and Maduro permitted it,
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usually the Cubans are not in uniform, but they pretend to be police or even in plain clothes.
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Without Cubans, Venezuela's democracy movement would have toppled their dictatorship long ago.
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That's him on the right, shown giving sort of a high five to a smiling Barack Obama.
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And it was just beaming at a fellow world traveler.
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And that thug in the middle there with the mustache, that's Nicolas Maduro, who took over as the tyrant after Chavez died in 2013.
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Maduro was definitely a thug, but it's inaccurate to say he was the totalitarian center of Venezuela in the same way that, say, Kim Jong-un or his father or grandfather were in North Korea.
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Maduro is rapacious, yes, but he's part of a larger network of tyranny.
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The Cubans, Iran, believe it or not, Turkey is meddling in there.
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Everyone wants a piece of Venezuela, and Maduro is weak enough, economically, militarily, personally, that he has to give up a lot of control to those foreign meddlers.
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But Maduro still wrings out money from his starving country.
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Here's a cell phone video taken from a lavish party a few nights back from the Maduro family at a nightclub,
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throwing American hundred, don't look at that, throwing American money around like it's confetti.
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Hugo Chavez, his daughter, Chavez himself is dead now, thank God.
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His daughter is the richest person in the whole country.
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Meanwhile, the country is so poor that the average Venezuelan has lost nearly 20 pounds, not from a diet or exercise, but from malnutrition.
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Countless people have fled the country as refugees pouring into neighboring countries.
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Remember, this used to be the fourth richest place in the world.
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Chavez and then Maduro have been violent authoritarian tyrants, dictators in all but name, modeled in that way after Castro and weirdly after Iran and Syria.
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And it's weird, the connections for more than a decade.
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This is a news story that goes back to 2007, where they declare an axis of unity against the United States.
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Independent media obviously have been shut down in Venezuela.
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Even labor unions have been dissolved, unless they're a front group for the government.
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Where's the left wing up in arms about that, eh?
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Violence at the hands of Chavez and Maduro and at the hands of Cuban mercenaries.
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And given Obama's friendship with Chavez and Obama's friendship with Iran,
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did you really think that Obama would do anything about it for his eight years?
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No, but this week, Donald Trump finally did something about it.
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There's a democracy activist, a challenger, an opposition leader,
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a genuine and legitimate president of Venezuela under their constitution.
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Asumir formalmente las competencias del Ejecutivo Nacional
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Para lograr el cese de la usurpaciĂłn, un gobierno de transiciĂłn y tener elecciones libres.
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Now you'll notice he's standing on the street, not in a palace.
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Of course, Maduro and Cuba say he is illegitimate.
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Mexico has sided with Maduro to its eternal disgrace.
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I know we don't talk a lot about Mexico or Bolivia,
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but remember on this Berlin Wall moment, Mexico stood with evil.
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Obviously, Iran and Turkey side with Maduro also.
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It's a bit long, but I want to read his whole statement to you, okay?
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Because it's impressive and it immediately caused so many other nations to follow Trump's leadership.
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But it also shows us a little bit more about Trump's foreign policy.
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Today, I am officially recognizing the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly,
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Juan Guaido, as the interim president of Venezuela,
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in its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people.
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The National Assembly invoked the country's constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate
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and the office of the presidency, therefore, vacant.
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The people of Venezuela have courageously spoken out against Maduro and his regime
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I will continue to use the full weight of United States economic and diplomatic power
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to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.
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We encourage other Western Hemisphere governments to recognize National Assembly President Guaido
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and we will work constructively with them in support of his efforts to restore constitutional legitimacy.
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We continue to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime directly responsible for any threats
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it may pose to the safety of the Venezuelan people.
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to remain united and firm for a democratic and free Venezuela.
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Uh, no soldiers being sent, no invasion being planned, no bombing, just moral suasion, economic
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Um, now in response, Maduro, who's still in the presidential palace, he gave the U.S.
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embassy notice that he is kicking out their diplomats.
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Uh, that's the only country Maduro said that to.
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And, um, and he had three days to get out of the country, and I guess that was a day ago.
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But the United States said they do not recognize his authority to kick them out,
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Will Maduro send armed men to attack the embassy?
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Here's what Marco Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, tweeted,
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He said, if a Venezuela dictator, Nicolas Maduro, has any friends left,
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And don't start a fight with someone who has proven he will take actions beyond what anyone
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I don't think a senator himself has the authority to command the U.S. military.
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That's the commander in chief called the president, and his name is Donald Trump.
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And I think Marco Rubio described him accurately.
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But if I were Maduro or Cuba or anyone, I would be thinking, what, what does it mean?
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And I think we can all agree that it's between Barack Obama, who rolled over for any tyrant,
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and Donald Trump, who rolls over tyrants or tames them, as he seems to be doing in North Korea.
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And, um, it's best not to tangle with Donald Trump.
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Um, that's China's decision these days, anyways.
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I should point out that it took the full day before Canada said a peep about Venezuela.
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I was checking all day yesterday on Chrystia Freeland's Twitter feed,
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on the foreign policy Twitter feed, on Canada global affairs.
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Now, now, Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, immediately, uh, supported the new, um,
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Venezuelan interim president, called for Maduro to be ousted.
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Most democracies did, including in Latin America, but not our Chrystia Freeland.
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At the moment in question, she was too busy on this media panel,
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this vanity TED Talk panel at the fancy Jet Set conference in Davos, Switzerland.
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She was being a pundit, a chatterbox, a personality.
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But you see, she had this really important speaking gig,
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and she had some autographs to sign afterwards,
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so it was not until nighttime that she bothered to put out a statement.
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But to be honest, look, that's pretty much all Chrystia Freeland is good for, being on panels.
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I mean, ask China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, America.
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So maybe it doesn't matter that our dilettante foreign minister was too busy signing autographs for millionaires
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and showing off her socks or whatever she's doing than answering, um, answering her phone.
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I mean, that's sad to say as a Canadian, but it's true.
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And of course, what really matters are the Venezuelan people.
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I mean, unless Maduro literally was willing to murder tens of thousands of his own citizens, and maybe he is.
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How could he ever stop that massive crowd as a dictator?
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And that was just one partial view of the streets in a neighborhood in Caracas.
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I think those people would overwhelm any police force, even unarmed, the people would.
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That really made me feel like the Berlin Wall was falling in its own way in Venezuela.
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Now, Maduro supporters, they asked for rallies of his side.
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They asked people who support Maduro to rally around the presidential palace to show support to Maduro, to the world, and maybe, I don't know, act as some sort of human shield or something.
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But here's a video taken last night outside the presidential palace called Mila Flores.
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Not a single citizen was there to defend the tyrant or even stand by him.
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To the contrary, here's a video of people overrunning Chavez's party headquarters.
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That sort of reminds me of when Iraqis ransacked Saddam's palaces.
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Or when in East Germany people ransacked the Stasi headquarters.
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It's hard to tell, but I think it's organic and genuine.
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You can't orchestrate something as big as that huge Caracas rally.
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And it just really feels genuine to me from my perch here thousands of miles away.
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And the fact that strangers are united in this moment of solidarity.
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Maybe they heard about Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and the changes he's making there.
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So maybe they think they can be another way forward for Venezuela too.
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And they don't have to become an Iran-Cuba colony.
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I like that the Empire State Building is in Venezuelan colors.
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I like that half of Miami and Venezuelans around the world are excited about rebuilding their home.
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I mean, listen, if you're in Miami, you don't want to leave.
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But to also rebuild your home, there's a lot better prospect of turning Venezuela around.
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Then say turning Afghanistan into a vibrant, prosperous, safe, liberal democracy.
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Spoiler alert, you will never turn Afghanistan into a vibrant, prosperous, safe, liberal democracy.
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But you can with Venezuela because it already was once and not even that long ago.
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And surely not one American soldier needs to die to accomplish that.
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Trudeau would never send troops to do something like liberate a place.
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He's got us off in Mali right now, a place that is a failed state.
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And it will never be right, but he wants to virtue signal there.
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Him and Christopher Freeland are a perfect fit, aren't they?
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Here's a political leader on the side of democracy, Maria Corina Machado.
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And she says, and we've clicked the translate button here.
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Nicolas Maduro is responsible for the violence unleashed in several cities today.
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17 Venezuelans murdered, dozens wounded, and more than 70 detainees.
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This is how the criminal regime acts in its collapse.
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My solidarity and prayers with the families of the victims.
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I have no doubt that's true that Maduro and the Cuban mercenaries, and who knows, maybe
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there's even some Iranian, you know, mercenaries.
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We don't know the full extent of what the secret police are doing.
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I would be surprised if they tried to assassinate the interim acting president, but I wouldn't be shocked.
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At this point, I was planning to show you a list of North American celebrities who have lavished love and praise on Chavez and Maduro over the years and said he was a role model.
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Sean Pan, Oliver Stone, most of Hollywood, it's gross, it's awful, political leaders from Bob Ray in Ontario to Bernie Sanders.
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This is one of Rachel Notley's, MLA's Rod Loyola.
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Yeah, I'm not one to talk about being fat, but you can tell he hasn't lived on the Nicolas Maduro malnutrition diet, has he?
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But today is not the day for Rod Loyola's disgrace and Rachel Notley's disgrace.
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She who for years wore the Che Guevara watch and the disgrace of Nikki Ashton, the NDP member of parliament who's taking Venezuela's side against America.
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There will be plenty of time to talk about their disgrace.
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Their collusion in the crimes of Chavez and Maduro.
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But today, for now, let us focus on whose day it is, the people of Venezuela, and let us put our hopes and prayers with them in these dangerous days.
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Para lograr el cese de la usurpaciĂłn, un gobierno de transiciĂłn y tener elecciones libres.
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Bueno, there you have it, an incredibly exciting day, Juan Guaido being sworn in as the new president of Venezuela.
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But the tyrant, Nicolas Maduro, refuses to let go.
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Massive protests in the streets, reports of Maduro loyalists murdering protesters.
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Cuba and countries of that sort standing with Maduro, Mexico to their great discredit.
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But the United States, and I'm pleased to say Canada, Brazil, and others standing with president,
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I don't know what you would call him because he has not yet taken power.
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President Guaido joining us now is someone who has helped us navigate this important issue
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Our friend Joseph Humeyer, the executive director of the Secure Free Society.
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And he actually joins us from El Salvador, where he is today.
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And part of what keeps you busy is generating support for the removal of the tyrant Nicolas Maduro.
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It's an important time to talk about Venezuela and Latin America.
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One of the reasons I'm in El Salvador is because there's going to be an election here
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in about a little over a week, on February 3rd, where there's an important inflection point
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where the Salvadorians, much like many Latin Americans,
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have decided whether they want to go in the direction of peace and prosperity
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or they want to have more Venezuelas that are under consideration.
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So it's an important time to thank you for having me on the show.
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And you have helped us understand Venezuela, its connections to Cuba, its connections to Iran.
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I think a lot of people are unaware of how Venezuela has actually become colonized by other powers.
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I mean, it makes sense to me that Cuba would prop up their ally,
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especially the ally that gave them cheap oil after the fall of the Soviet Union.
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And I see that Turkey is standing with Maduro now.
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Those are folks that you wouldn't imagine would be mucking around in the Western Hemisphere.
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And I think one of the things that I think everyone needs to understand, particularly your viewership,
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is that the Bolivarian Revolution, which is what brought the Maduro regime
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and the Chavez regime before that into power, has a lot of history behind it.
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And that history actually looks not so much like Cuba and looks a lot like Syria.
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One of the things that I've learned through our studies is that
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had a lot to do more with the extension of pan-Arab nationalism
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that was at the height of conflicts in the Middle East throughout the 20th century,
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using the same tactics of insurgency and infiltration,
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be able to create this kind of phenomenon of democratic dictatorships,
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and exported that to Latin America and Venezuela being one of those countries that adopted that methodology.
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That's very different than Cuba, which was more of a guerrilla warfare tactic
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So I think that's one of the things that we have to examine when we look at Venezuela,
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It's not like anything we've seen really in Latin America before.
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And it's a lot more like conflicts we've seen in the Middle East, namely a conflict in Syria.
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it's a humanitarian crisis with the world's largest refugees outflows
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and a large control of Turkey, Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah.
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That definition now fits Venezuela, and that's not by coincidence.
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Well, that's very—I mean, I remember the first time I heard that,
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I thought, what, that can't be right, but of course, Ahmadinejad and Rouhani,
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they are really Maduro's most vocal and powerful allies in many ways.
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because I think when he and when Vice President Mike Pence said,
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not just from Trump's last two years of relative silence,
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but obviously from the eight years of Barack Obama.
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I'll never get it out of my head, that image of Barack Obama warmly greeting Hugo Chavez,
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not just with a handshake, but almost like a high-five type embrace.
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And you can see that on the screen here, a very famous photo,
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Obama praising Maduro, and in the background—so, praising Chavez,
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and in the background was the successor to Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro.
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It's obvious why the parties of the left in America and Canada and around the world supported Chavez and Maduro.
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Let me ask you, is there a backlash to America and other Western democracies standing with Guaido?
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oh, you see, Yankee imperialists, we all must unite against the evil Donald Trump?
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I told you there's meddlers in Venezuela, but it's not Cuba and Iran.
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The meddler is in America. Yankee, go home. Is that a risk?
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Well, that's always—I mean, that's going to happen regardless.
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That's going to happen whether we do nothing, whether we say nothing.
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And that's been the policy of previous administrations,
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to kind of just not talk about Maduro and then Chavez before him.
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And that doesn't stop them from talking about you.
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I don't think we have to worry too much about what Maduro says,
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because he's going to say what he wants to say regardless.
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I think what we have to take into consideration, though,
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is that the time, the moment right now is at an inflection point in Venezuela,
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where you have two presidents that are completely opposed
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from different alliances and recognition in the international community.
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One president, the legitimate president, Juan Guaido,
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who's the interim president, is backed up not just by the Venezuelan constitution,
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Article 233 of the Constitution, that backed them up constitutionally.
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It also has the alliance—it has the recognition of 50 countries in the international community,
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most of the countries that actually respect the democratic norms of sovereign states.
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Maduro, on the other hand, has the backing of his own 50-plus countries,
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but those are mostly anti-democratic countries, anti-U.S. countries, anti-Israel countries.
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Turkey, such as Iran, non-aligned movement, as they're called in 77 countries,
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which Venezuela is actually the acting president of.
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So what we're looking at is a confrontation that's happening,
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where the crisis in Venezuela is moving to more of a conflict.
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And we have to be very careful, because that could quickly devolve into a civil war,
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I mean, I saw yesterday that Maduro told the U.S. Embassy they have three days to get out of town.
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yeah, no, we're not leaving, we no longer regard you as the constitutional president of Venezuela.
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That's quite a game of chicken, because, I mean, you've got this little compound in Caracas of the American interests,
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and you presumably have the entire Venezuelan army and its Cuban and perhaps Iranian reinforcements.
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Like, to say, no, we're not leaving, that is raising the stakes.
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Because, I mean, from what I can tell, Maduro still has most of the guns.
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And even though some of the police and soldiers have defected to the people,
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I think he's still in control of most of the violence.
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So what's going to happen in the next 48 hours?
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It's curious to me that out of the 50-plus countries that don't recognize that the girls are legitimate president,
00:26:13.560
So that's a little bit interesting and of its own right.
00:26:16.800
But I think the Trump administration is going to test the resolve of the Maduro regime.
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They're going to see how far he wants to really claim his stake to power,
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or if he wants to look for a negotiated solution now.
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I see one of three different scenarios happening.
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I see one scenario where the military rises up and tries to attack the regime
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with the constitutional backing of the legitimate president, Juan Guaido.
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But that's a very dangerous situation because, as you know, the Cubans, the ELN guerrillas,
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the Hezbollah networks, the Cuban—there's all these kind of armed non-state actors
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that are willing to defend the regime in Venezuela.
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And so that creates a situation for more bloodshed and a real type of civil war.
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The other scenario is that there's a negotiated solution to have to take from Maduro
00:27:01.540
And so I think those actors will get more involved.
00:27:03.180
Matter of fact, I have information that says that Erwan himself wants to get involved
00:27:06.800
in mediating the Venezuelan conflict and that the regime, the Venezuelan regime,
00:27:11.720
But I see it as a trick because I know that, you know, Erwan is not a friend of the United States,
00:27:16.360
and he's been doing a lot of these kind of underhanded shenanigans in the Middle East
00:27:20.060
and just extending that to Latin America is not good.
00:27:21.880
And then the final solution is that basically the Maduro just cracked down in 12,
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like he's done in 2017 and 14 before him, and just does a countrywide crackdown
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and clamps down, and that'll seal his dictatorship in the country,
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which presents all kinds of other different scenarios.
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So none of these scenarios are good, but that's likely something's going to happen.
00:27:40.500
Something's going to happen that this tension isn't just going to wither away.
00:27:45.180
You know, one of the things that you and I have talked about over the years,
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and we've had other experts on Venezuela, I was thrilled yesterday.
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I felt like in a small way it was like the Berlin Wall came down,
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and I know that most Canadians are not as attentive to Venezuela
00:28:00.980
as they would have been to, you know, Europe for a lot of good reasons.
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But I mean, 30 million people, 32 million or whatever the population is,
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for the first time in decades have a chance of freedom.
00:28:13.220
And I felt exhilarated, and when I saw those images of the crowds in the street,
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The West has been so involved in Arabia and Iran and Afghanistan
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and all these godforsaken places, and here's Venezuela,
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a Western country, literally, Christian country,
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liberal country in its people, educated country, industrialized country.
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Surely, of all the places for us to help and weigh in,
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And I'm not saying America should put boots on the ground,
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I just was telling you emotionally, I felt thrilled to see this.
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because very recently Brazil made an important course change.
00:29:04.560
We've talked about it a little bit on the show.
00:29:06.000
Yair Bolsonaro, who I would say is anti-communist,
00:29:10.620
not just pro-freedom, but he's aggressively against the kind of Latin America
00:29:28.860
I thought, well, imagine if it was Brazil and then Venezuela,
00:29:31.960
and maybe we could see a new era of freedom and prosperity and democracy in Latin America.
00:29:37.560
I just don't know enough about it, which is why I'm relying on you.
00:29:40.760
And you're in El Salvador right now, and you say there's a big election coming there.
00:29:45.720
I'm sorry for the long question, but I just see so much hope,
00:29:57.740
We have to stay hopeful with all of Latin America and the world,
00:29:59.700
the people that are trying to rise up against oppression on any corner of the world.
00:30:03.520
And I think Venezuela is the most recent example.
00:30:10.200
and we have to know what their strategic intents are.
00:30:13.900
I was in Brazil for a week, and I met with many people in the Bolsonaro team
00:30:17.120
at the beginning of what is the criminal civic military insurgency structure
00:30:27.020
Until we understand that, it's hard to know how to attack it.
00:30:29.940
And I don't think Brazil is going to be very prudent on how it acts
00:30:33.360
and not going to be reckless, as some may have suggested, on how they maneuver.
00:30:37.200
But it's awesome to have an ally like Brazil, a very powerful country,
00:30:40.260
a big country that can count on to basically stand up to the regime.
00:30:43.900
That said, my main point to everybody is that while we focus so much on the regime,
00:30:54.920
And the revolution is advancing through the exportation of the refugees.
00:30:59.560
And we have to contain the refugee crisis first before we move anything else.
00:31:03.480
We have to understand that the Venezuelan regime wants the conflict.
00:31:07.320
All their international backers, Turkey, Iran, Russia,
00:31:11.780
They want this conflict because they prefer to drag the United States
00:31:14.960
into another proxy conflict, much like Syria, than to fight their own battles at home.
00:31:19.240
And so in that sense, we have to be very careful not to engage in a traditional conflict,
00:31:24.400
That's what we're working on here in Latin America,
00:31:29.120
You know, you just made me think of the Arab Spring,
00:31:31.280
which had the outward appearance of being some sort of democracy movement,
00:31:34.840
but it actually was an Islamist movement in Egypt in particular and other places.
00:32:07.360
And it's based on what I think I know about Maduro,
00:32:16.200
There's this famous video of him going to, speaking of Turkey,
00:32:23.880
a bit of a steakhouse celebrity, Salt Bay is his nickname.
00:32:27.680
And your average Venezuelan has lost almost 20 pounds from malnutrition.
00:32:36.360
cutting up succulent cuts of beef in a theatrical way
00:32:41.520
It was a bit of an Internet sensation, this Salt Bay.
00:32:47.380
I mean, you serve whoever comes in your restaurant.
00:32:49.140
But for Maduro to feast on probably what was a $1,000 dinner
00:32:58.680
Maybe someone says, look, Maduro, go to Havana.
00:33:10.160
Have the rest of your life in retirement as a billionaire.
00:33:22.540
Go into exile and end this problem nonviolently.
00:33:26.600
Do you think that's a possibility to appeal to his ego and wealth and selfishness?
00:33:33.060
Well, I don't think that he's going to make it or what we try to portray to him.
00:33:38.760
He's going to make a decision in concert with his international backers.
00:33:42.420
I mean, I do see a scenario where Maduro goes to live off the rest of his days in some type
00:33:46.440
of protection in Istanbul under the Turkish government.
00:33:49.320
And that might be what Erdogan wants to do when he comes down to Venezuela.
00:33:56.020
I'm worried about other people in the Venezuelan regime that are more important than Nicolas
00:34:00.660
Tarek Al-Asami has much more power control over the armed forces, over the economy, over
00:34:07.140
And he has a threat network that extends all the way into the Middle East and all throughout
00:34:11.940
Latin America that's much more dangerous than Nicolas Maduro.
00:34:15.000
So what will we do with Tarek Al-Asami and then all the other individuals that are in
00:34:19.520
We've got about 250 individuals in the high command of the regime that are either narco
00:34:23.400
traffickers, military commanders, or corrupt politicians that control that country.
00:34:33.240
And I remember we've talked before about that Tarek Al-Asami, I forget his last name.
00:34:46.860
Yeah, we don't have time to go deep on that again.
00:34:49.880
But I remember when you showed us his connections to Syria, and I couldn't believe it.
00:34:56.420
Well, listen, Joseph, you've given me a good dose of reality.
00:35:03.960
Will you say, would you agree with me, that for the first time in more than a decade, there's
00:35:12.020
The Berlin Wall has not fallen yet, but it's wobbling.
00:35:18.860
And I think that it's not going to be a kinetic fight.
00:35:23.300
And I think in Latin America, I'm part of this group of people that are going around trying
00:35:27.180
to make sure that we build allies that are going to fight this fight.
00:35:30.980
And I'll share the optimism that, you know, we can win this.
00:35:34.340
So I definitely think that this is something that we're going to be flying to.
00:35:37.180
And I hope the Trump administration and any other administration stands behind it.
00:35:42.540
I won't keep another minute of your time because I know you're doing such important work in
00:35:46.540
El Salvador trying to get that country on the right track.
00:35:49.040
And I really hope and I'm not really a religious person, but I tell you, in my own way, I'm
00:35:55.180
praying for the success of this peaceful democratic revolution.
00:36:01.040
And there's so many people whose lives are at stake right now.
00:36:04.980
And it's I think it's the most important story in the world.
00:36:07.920
And I thank you for over the years giving our viewers a bit of insight that I know they
00:36:14.900
You've been a lonely fighter on this when others have turned away.
00:36:19.240
So I want to congratulate you for for the I know you're not on the ground there, but
00:36:23.440
indirectly, you've helped shape this moment in your own way.
00:36:30.580
And thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this.
00:36:38.740
He's from the, of course, the Secure Free Society.
00:36:41.580
And he's the executive director of that organization.
00:36:43.860
Quite often when we talk to him, he's in Washington, D.C.
00:36:46.560
But as you heard, he just came from Brazil and he's in El Salvador.
00:36:50.020
And of course, we were talking about Venezuela.
00:37:07.620
Betty writes, so the liberals are willing to sell Canada and Canadians out to the Chinese
00:37:17.720
When Jean Chrétien goes to work for Desmarais and the Chinese conglomerates five weeks after
00:37:23.140
stepping down as PM, yeah, it's about the money.
00:37:26.120
And Peter Harder, who's Justin Trudeau's leader in the Senate, China man.
00:37:40.300
There's an admiration for that authoritarian style.
00:37:43.200
Justin Trudeau, little potato, like his father, admires strong men.
00:37:52.760
And, um, I remember there was a moment there where the liberal party tried to pass itself
00:38:03.620
Stephen writes, McCallum should be fired, but the liberals never fire anyone.
00:38:11.600
I mean, um, they won't, they don't fire people, but I, I, I want to say, I disagree with
00:38:19.980
you one level deeper because to think that John McCallum, former cabinet minister, longtime
00:38:25.620
MP, um, senior hand, political guy, to think that he would have done that as on his own
00:38:35.080
or as a rogue, to think that he would have called a press conference with only Chinese
00:38:41.120
media, specifically said those very particular arguments, to think he would have done that
00:38:48.200
without consulting or rather being directed from the PMO is, I think, to be naive.
00:38:56.820
Um, of course he said it because he's the China ambassador to China, but of course, Justin
00:39:03.660
And you saw that in that Trudeau did not disown it.
00:39:09.400
Those words weren't scripted by Gerald Butts or Trudeau couldn't even write such big words,
00:39:13.940
but the Gerald Butts and the PMO scripted, of course he did.
00:39:16.540
Barbara Barb writes, McCallum handles his new position like he did while the immigration
00:39:27.120
Uh, I just, I don't understand it other than some of the things I said a moment ago about
00:39:37.400
So many, uh, being stationed in the Canadian embassy in Beijing is considered a prize, uh,
00:39:47.880
station, a prize position in Canadian diplomacy.
00:39:58.680
I wouldn't call it a vacation to go there, but it's interesting.
00:40:01.740
But if you spend, let's say two years or five years in Beijing interfacing between the Canadian
00:40:09.560
government and the Chinese government, you're going to meet a lot of companies on both sides
00:40:16.200
A lot of regulators, a lot of politicians, a lot of communist party insiders.
00:40:23.620
And if you retire after five years, well, now you have a reputation of being an insider,
00:40:32.840
And let's say you were making, I don't know, a hundred thousand dollars a year as some counselor
00:40:38.760
Well, now you can bill yourself out at a thousand dollars an hour or more.
00:40:44.800
You can get a cut of deals and you know the inside track.
00:40:48.700
And so, so many former diplomats who serve a term in Beijing, then turn tables, go to
00:40:56.720
the other side and go to make money on the Chinese side or the Chinese Canadian business
00:41:02.140
Don't think that that same thinking didn't apply to Jean-Claude Chen as prime minister
00:41:09.800
Maurice Strong used to be the head of Ontario Hydro, used to be the deputy secretary general
00:41:21.980
In his later years, he moved to China for the absolute total economic score.
00:41:29.420
That is absolutely on the minds of liberal party members today.
00:41:39.120
I should tell you that Huawei, the Chinese company, has made donations all over the place
00:41:45.280
in Canada, including to Canada 2020, which is sort of the Trudeau in-house think tank.
00:41:52.620
So Huawei has donated money to a Justin Trudeau front group called Canada 2020.
00:42:00.820
If you're still with me, I would invite you to tune in to StandWithTheRebel.com because
00:42:08.160
We have filed our appeal to the courts in Alberta against the $5,500 proposed fine being levied
00:42:19.600
You can read the entire 10-page appeal at StandWithTheRebel.com.
00:42:24.980
And just hours after we filed that, we got a kooky, kooky letter from the election commissioner
00:42:33.060
Please, please, please, please don't take this to a real court.
00:42:35.740
It's a crazy letter, and you'll see that at StandWithTheRebel.com also.
00:42:40.800
Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, good night, and
00:42:44.700
keep fighting for freedom from Caracas to Calgary.