Rally Outside Public Canadian Broadcaster Demands it Cover Venezuela ‘Truthfully’
Report from teleSUR
Nearly 150 people have joined a protest in Toronto, Canada in front of the offices of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster, demanding that “CBC tell the truth about Venezuela.”
Protesters at the rally. | Photo: Jay Watts
The rally was organized by a broad coalition of groups “frustrated and angry with the coverage around Venezuela” by the outlet, Raul Burbano, an activist from Common Frontiers, told teleSUR.
“CBC is a publicly-funded institution that’s not meeting journalistic standards and norms with its one-sided coverage,” he said.
Burbano said CBC provides the opposition with unprecedented coverage, presenting their narrative as “defacto truth”, an opposition that has “undertaken violence, and is responsible for many deaths and the destruction of public property” all while “seeking to overthrow the democratically-elected” president.
Marta Paloma, from the city’s chapter of the Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front, who spoke at the rally, agreed, telling teleSUR that Canadian media coverage of the situation is “very one-sided.”
Paloma said that when Lilian Tintori — the wife of the Venezuelan opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez — visited Canada to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, media outlets had fawning coverage of her.
“(We want to) raise our voice against acts of aggression against Venezuela,” Paloma said, explaining why she spoke at the rally. “(Including) against the sanctions by the U.S. that strike at the heart of Venezuela’s economy.”
The Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network at the rally. | Photo: Jay Watts
In 2014, Leoplodo Lopez was convicted and charged with plotting and promoting the violent street blockades, also known as “guarimbas”, in Venezuela. The widespread violence led to the death of 43 people
For Juan Restrepo, a member of the city’s Venezuela Solidarity Committee, as well as the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network, confronting CBC was important “as a Latin American” and to “defend the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela”, in the wake of the images CBC and other mass media publish on the issue.
