Headline: US grows impatient with Canadian truckers blocking bridges
Truckers block the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, near the US border, to protest new Covid-19 measures announced by the Canadian government, February 8, 2022. © Geoff Robins / AFP
Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow
3 mins
Advertising
Read more
“
The White House urges Canada to reopen the Ambassador Bridge
,” headlines
Le Devoir
.
And the pressures do not come only from the Biden administration: “
Other elected American officials, including the governor of Michigan, expressed their dissatisfaction on Thursday
”.
Gretchen Whitmer calls on Canadian authorities to "
take all necessary steps to immediately reopen the bridge safely
".
American homeland security experts are also struggling to understand the management of anti-vax protests by the government of Justin Trudeau.
“
When a person blocks a public road and disturbs civil life and the economy, it is illegal
“, remarked an American analyst in the columns of
Le Devoir
.
The
Globe and Mail
reports today that the reopening of the Ambassador Bridge is now rightly "
the Canadian Prime Minister's top priority
".
The federal government plans to send members of the royal gendarmerie, reveal sources close to Justin Trudeau.
The authorities of the province of Ontario, where the bridge is located, also want to crack down on the demonstrators: “
Fines, confiscation of vehicles and suspension of commercial licenses could be announced as early as this Friday
”, warns the newspaper.
The Municipality of Windsor, on the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge, yesterday filed an application for an injunction in the city's Superior Court.
We should have known this noon, local time, if the request was accepted.
This would, if necessary, force the demonstrators to leave the bridge, reports
Le Devoir
again .
Editorial writers are still questioning Justin Trudeau's handling of this crisis.
The daily
La Presse
criticizes the head of the Canadian government for an “
obvious lack of leadership
”, while “we are
witnessing a movement of sedition, a concerted uprising against public authority
”.
The
New York Times
, while “
disagreeing with the cause of the protesters
,” believes that they “
have a right to be loud and even disruptive.
Allowing non-violent protests, even if they are disruptive, is an important tool for maintaining social cohesion in a polarized society
,” the paper writes.
"
The movement of Canadian truckers, which inspires others around the world, is nothing less than a test for our democracies
."
Could the Ukrainian crisis find an echo on the border between Venezuela and Colombia
?
In any case, this is what the governments of Washington, but also Bogotá, have been denouncing for several days.
El Tiempo
had access to a Colombian intelligence report.
It shows that 68 Russian soldiers, stationed in Venezuela, would be active near the border with Colombia in support of the Venezuelan forces, which themselves would work hand in hand with the ELN, the last Colombian guerrilla still in activity.
According to the report, "
'Russian-made' tanks and artillery units were moved a few weeks ago to Apure state, on the border with Arauca, Colombia
."
This area is currently the scene of violent clashes between members of the ELN and dissidents of the former FARC guerrillas, who are fighting over this strategic corridor for drug trafficking.
The Colombian government regularly accuses Venezuela of harboring ELN guerrillas on its territory.
Still according to
El Tiempo , Caracas is in the process of installing a "
radio-electronic surveillance unit
along the border
with the help of the Russian military.
In Bogotá, there are now open concerns about Russian interference, especially in the run-up to the legislative elections in March and the presidential election in May.
Russia, through its embassy in Colombia, has denied any accusation.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Newspaper
Americas press review
United States
Canada
Venezuela
Colombia