Aren’t we lucky? None of our leaders were violently pulled out of our country so far in 2026. None of our citizens in Chatham-Kent were shot and killed by law enforcement due to questionable use of force.
Some people will no doubt say removing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was a necessary measure, while others will say the ICE agent in Minneapolis was justified via self-defence in fatally shooting mother of three Renee Nicole Good.
Good was killed when she apparently attempted to flee ICE agents who ordered her to get out of her vehicle, which had been blocking a street where ICE was active.
Federal officials, including President Donald Trump, claim the agent, who was in front of the vehicle when it began moving forward, was rammed and the agent acted in self-defence.
Video footage from several angles refutes the claim.
Did the agent fear for his life? Perhaps. But the level of response, which took a life, is the question here.
Meanwhile Maduro’s rise to power in oil-rich Venezuela came on the back of Hugo Chavez. His rule was authoritarian, and Amnesty International accused the man of the worst human rights violations against its citizens in the history of the nation.
In 2020, the United States declared Maduro a narco-terrorist for cocaine trafficking. That was the previous Trump presidency.
So, not a great guy and not a great statesman.
But does that give the U.S. the authority to waltz in and abduct the man? If so, there is a long line of dictators or questionably elected leaders of other nations that the U.S. should do the same thing to.
Venezuela has rich oil reserves. Make no mistake, the plan is to let Big Oil get its hands on Venezuelan oil, helping American interests in the process. The fact Maduro was a blight on his people was the impetus needed to try to justify the manoeuvre.
Look at past U.S. foreign involvements. Afghanistan was purely in response to the 9/11 attacks, but the two incursions in Iraq were oil related…to stabilize the oil production in the region and protect U.S. company interests in that part of the world.
In both instances, the actions have led to massive protests. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey went so far to call the self-defence claim “bullshit” and to tell ICE to “get the f*ck out” of the city.
In Venezuela, government-led crowds rallied to call for the release of Maduro, while the government also worked to hunt down anyone who was celebrating his abduction.
Neither issues has led to any improvements.
Thank God we live in Canada.
