On the consular side, of course, we provide consular services. Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 over the Israeli military action against Hamas in the Gaza strip. After that, Israel asked Canada to represent their interests in Venezuela, which are chiefly consular. In that instance, this was agreed to by the Government of Venezuela.
We monitor the human rights situation domestically, but we also provide services to the resident community. We've encouraged the government there to reject and combat anti-Semitism when it manifests itself. My examples, to be fair, refer to instances where, in the state broadcaster or public media, we've seen references of a derogatory, anti-Semitic nature vis-à-vis Israel. We have a couple of examples of that instance. We also hold President Chavez to his word when he met the Jewish community leaders a little over a year ago and said that he had the greatest respect for them and for their contribution. He told his party members publicly that anti-Semitism was unacceptable.
We have followed up, as I mentioned, on instances where, on state television, one of the reporters broadcast anti-Semitic remarks. I raised that, and secondly, there were comments made in relation to an opposition leader named Henrique Capriles, where, again, anti-Semitic comments were made towards him. As a result of that, we intervened through our ambassador in Caracas with the foreign ministry. In this instance, it was an article on the website that was removed at Canada's insistence. We follow this very closely, and we will continue to express our views when we see issues like this develop. The Government of Israel is very appreciative of our role in the country and of the support that we provide to the Jewish community.