(LifeSiteNews) – Conservative Members of Parliament have torn to shreds Canada’s state-run media channel for promoting an opinion piece calling now-deposed Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro, who was captured by the United States, a “man of the people.”
In an X post on Sunday, Conservative MP Sandra Cobena ripped the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) French radio division for promoting on X an opinion piece titled “Nicolas Maduro, the common man with the iron fist.”
“Calling Nicolás Maduro a ‘man of the people’ is an insult to the millions of Venezuelans who have suffered under his rule,” Cobena wrote.
“When a publicly funded broadcaster like CBC Radio sanitizes the image of an authoritarian strongman, it abandons its duty to truth and accountability.”
The opinion piece about Maduro stated that, as translated from French to English, he was a 63-year-old “former bus driver frequently (who) recalled his origins and liked to cultivate this image of a man of the people, simple and down to earth.”
“He had a sympathetic image clashing with his way of ruling Venezuela, which relied largely on the military and security apparatus. The opposition accused him of being one ‘dictator,” the opinion piece noted.
According to Cobena, who was born in Ecuador, “Maduro is not a populist hero. He is the inheritor and enforcer of one of the most destructive regimes in modern Latin American history.”
“Under Maduro, Venezuela has experienced an economic collapse so severe it rivals war zones, without a war. Hyperinflation erased life savings. Food and medicine disappeared. Children starved, hospitals operated without electricity or supplies, and once-preventable diseases returned,” she noted.
She continued, saying, “To describe a man who presides over starvation, repression, exile, and stolen elections as a ‘man of the people’ is either profoundly ignorant or morally unserious. Words matter. Public broadcasters do not get to launder authoritarianism under the guise of balance. @CBCRadioCanada owes its audience better than this.”
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis wrote in reply to Cobena’s posting, “No CBC, Maduro was not a ‘man of the people.’”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, on January 3, U.S. special forces captured Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela in a sophisticated military operation. Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, was captured as well, and both were taken to New York, where they have been charged with drug trafficking.
While Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre celebrated Maduro’s capture, interim New Democratic Party leader Don Davies condemned actions by the Trump administration.
Prime Minister Mark Carney did not disagree with Maduro’s ousting, noting that the Canadian government never recognized him as president after the 2018 elections.