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OTTAWA — Some Venezuelan members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees are demanding the union retract or amend its controversial statement about Venezuela’s political situation, which they say contains “patently false” claims.

But in an internal memo, obtained by the National Post, CUPE’s national president Mark Hancock has doubled down on the union’s position “publicly objecting to the Trudeau government’s interventions in Venezuela,” saying last week that the union stands by its previous statement and won’t be saying anything new.

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Two teaching assistants at the University of Toronto, Daniel Indacochea and Giancarlo Fiorella, are among those raising concerns with their local union reps. “I have no reason to think that our local executives were even aware that this statement was even being made,” Fiorella told the Post.

CUPE’s statement said President Nicolas Maduro was “duly elected by the people,” despite the jailing of much of his political opposition ahead of elections last May. The union took issue with the Canadian government’s support for an interim president in Juan Guaido, the leader of the country’s opposition-controlled legislative assembly, and instead advocated Canada engage with the international community “to foster dialogue and peace between the elected government and the opposition.”