Ottawa and Empire

"In June 2009, the democratically-elected President of Honduras was kidnapped and whisked out of the country while the military and business elite consolidated a coup d'etat. The coup interrupted a period of social reform in Honduras, re-asserting the supremacy of the wealthy and unleashing a wave of violence against the many Hondurans who demanded that their democracy be respected. To the surprise of many, Canada implicitly supported the coup and assisted the coup leaders in consolidating their control over the country. This book details how and why the Canadian government supported this violent process, drawing on extensive original research in Honduras, demonstrating that the coup served the interests of Canadian companies which exploit the land and people of Honduras with impunity. Since the coup, Canada has increased its presence in Honduras, even while the country has been plunged into a human rights catastrophe, highlighted by the assassination of prominent Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres in 2016. Drawing from the Honduran experience, Ottawa and Empire insists that the Canadian left must confront the fact that Canada has emerged as an imperial power in the 21st century."--