[Pnews] Embassy Protection Collective: ‘We Are Not the Ones Who Violated the Law’

[Prisoner News]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14782


  Embassy Protection Collective: ‘We Are Not the Ones Who Violated the Law’

By Paul Dobson - February 4, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

/The US government formallyrecognized 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244> opposition leader Juan Guaido 
as Venezuela’s head of state following his self-proclamation as “interim 
president” in January 2019, sparking a breakdown in diplomatic relations 
between the Maduro administration and US government./

/In March, Guaido’s US representative,Carlos Vecchio 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244>, attempted to set up shop in 
Venezuela’s Washington DC embassy. This was thwarted, however, by around 
ten solidarity activists who embarked on a 37-day occupation, insisting 
that Guaido was unelected and hadno legal basis 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14304> to seize the building ./

/The occupation, which began on April 10, came to anend 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14495> in May when the US Secret 
Services broke into the diplomatic building and arrested the four 
remaining activists, now known as the Embassy Protection Collective: 
Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul./

/In this exclusive interview, VA’s Paul Dobson talks to them about the 
upcoming trial and its political consequences./

*For those not familiar with the Embassy Protection Collective, can you 
summarize the charges being leveled against you, the process to date, 
and the potential scenarios ahead?*

Four Embassy Protector Collective members are being prosecuted in 
Washington DC’s federal court for “interfering with the protective 
functions of the US Department of State.”

The Trump administration is arguing that our refusal to leave interfered 
with the government’s ability to protect the embassy.

The trial will begin on February 11 and could last approximately one 
week. The maximum penalties are up to one year in jail and up to a US 
$100,000 fine each.

Our judge is Washington DC’s District Court chief justice, Judge Beryl 
A. Howell, who has pushed to resolve this case quickly. Two of our 
lawyers had conflicts with other commitments and were removed by the 
judge, despite having spent six months on the case. Judge Howell has 
also denied all our motions for discovery (1) and islimiting both what 
we can say in court and how we defend ourselves 
<https://defendembassyprotectors.org/embassy-protectors-are-being-denied-their-right-to-a-fair-trial/>. 
The Trump administrationprosecutors have 
<https://defendembassyprotectors.org/trump-prosecutors-make-move-to-ensure-that-embassy-protectors-are-convicted/>also 
sought to greatly limit what the jurors will be told during the trial.

*Can you explain how it is that in a political trial you are banned from 
talking about politics?*

Judge Howell is trying to keep politics out of the courtroom. As a 
result, the jury is unlikely to be given important facts or context to 
understand our presence in the embassy. This is not unusual in political 
prosecutions in the United States.

Under a long-time and consistently upheld US legal precedent, courts do 
not get involved in political questions. Particularly relevant to this 
case is that the US president decides who is recognized as the leader of 
a foreign nation. Courts do not second-guess the president’s decisions.

As a result, the courtroom will be operating within the legal fiction 
that Juan Guaido is president of Venezuela even though he [effectively] 
hasnot been president <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14317> 
for even one minute.

If the prosecutors have their way, the jurors will not be told 
theEmbassy Protection Collective 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14439> was in the embassy for 37 
days with the permission of the elected government of Venezuela, that 
Carlos Vecchio is not an ambassador but part of a failed coup, and that 
the Vienna Convention made it illegal for the US to enter the embassy.

They will not be told that the US Secret Service, responsible for 
protecting foreign embassies, worked with a pro-coup mob to terrorize 
members of the Collective, destroy doors and windows, break into the 
embassy, block food deliveries and assault activists. They will not be 
told the electricity and water were illegally turned off.

Our legal team is working to ensure we can present a defense to the jury 
by appealing to our constitutional right to a fair trial. We will also 
push for an appeal if we don’t achieve this, which may result in a 
retrial, something the judge wants to avoid. This is often the reality 
of the US criminal justice system.

*What has the US government got to gain or lose from the case, and what 
might the consequences be for the US popular movement?*

This trial is the state’s challenge to peace, justice and 
anti-imperialist activists because it was the first time US citizens 
entered a foreign embassy to protect it from aUS-led [attempted] coup 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14495>. The government wants to send 
a message to anyone who stands in the way of regime change efforts that 
they will be punished for doing so.

The government and media worked together to make sure the conflict was 
not covered. The media did not report on what happened because it would 
have raised questions about the failed US coup in Venezuela, the 
legitimacy of Juan Guaido, and the reality that President Maduro was 
democratically re-elected inMay 2018 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13849>.

The [attempted] coup with the puppet Guaido is becoming an increasing 
embarrassment to the Trump administration. Despite this, the US has 
renewed its commitment tofund the opposition in Venezuela 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14758> and continue its assault 
on the sovereignty and well-being of the country.

The US government and media continue to put forward false stories about 
Venezuela being a dictatorship and President Maduro being a tyrant. They 
do not report on how the Venezuelan government, even in the midst of a 
vicious economic war being conducted by the United States, has worked to 
provide basic necessities to its people. The media does not report that 
the illegalunilateral coercive measures 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14615> imposed on Venezuelacontribute 
to tens of thousands of 
<https://popularresistance.org/40000-dead-venezuelans-under-us-sanctions-corporate-media-turn-a-blind-eye/>deaths. 
If people in the US understood that the economic war was just as 
devastating and deadly as a military war, they would oppose it.

If we are acquitted, it will challenge the entire narrative about 
Venezuela and other targets of US imperialism. It will in effect confirm 
that the US-led [attempted] coup and recognition of Juan Guaido are 
shams and that it was the US government that violated the law by 
invading the embassy. It would also set a legal precedent that citizens 
protecting an embassy do not interfere with the functions of the State 
Department. If the State Department had obeyed international law, there 
wouldn’t have been a need for an Embassy Protection Collective in the 
first place.

*How do you see your struggle in relation to global efforts to demand 
respect for international law and the UN Charter?*

On the day the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DC began, 
Venezuelan embassies in other cities 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14723> [around the world] were also 
under attack. Social movements in those countries defended those 
embassies too.

Our presence in the DC embassy went on for long enough that it received 
attention around the world. It highlighted the lawlessness 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14484> of the United States, 
something we describe as global gangsterism.

When the police came to the embassy to serve a clownish eviction notice 
falsely accusing us of trespassing, we warned them that violating the 
Vienna Convention by illegally coming into the embassy to arrest us 
would have repercussions for embassies around the world. The rule of law 
would be replaced by mob rule. This we are seeing come true today.

*For many following Venezuelan solidarity, the occupation placed you at 
the center of the confrontation between imperialist domination and 
national self-determination. How has this experience shaped your 
political analysis and motivation?*

When we entered the embassy and stayed there with the permission of the 
elected government, we did not know what to expect. For the first three 
weeks we were able to come and go, bring food, hold events and do our 
work. The police were largely absent. We hoped our presence would make 
it more difficult for the US to hand the embassy over to Juan Guaido’s 
coup allies as they had done with the consulate in New York City and 
military attaché offices in Washington DC.

Everything changed on April 30, the day of theattempted military coup 
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14453> in Caracas.

Coup supporters came to the embassy and worked with the US Secret 
Service to lay siege for the next 17 days. These supporters were well 
equipped and trained.

For those two and a half weeks, we personally experienced the racism, 
hatred, and violence that people in Venezuela and other countries have 
experienced for a long time. When our access to food, electricity and 
water were cut off, we experienced what it is like to live under 
economic warfare. Of course, what we experienced was mild compared to 
the violence and oppression perpetrated by the US against people in 
other countries.

Like people who are targeted by US imperialism, we had to adapt to the 
situation by finding ways to cope. Our allies on the outside risked 
their physical safety to outwit the mob and get food and supplies to us. 
Many were assaulted.

All of this gave us a deeper understanding of what the US is willing and 
capable of doing. The result was that it deepened our solidarity with 
Venezuelans and people in other targeted countries. As activists against 
racism, militarism, and imperialism, it strengthened our resolve to 
fight US interventionism, and it was a unique opportunity to take direct 
action against US imperialism that does not often arise.

The experience at the embassy brought us together in a profound way that 
made us a community, that made us sisters and brothers.

*How do you respond to the pressure for you to accept a plea deal 
instead of taking this to the courtroom?*

We had to educate some of our lawyers that a political case is different 
as they felt a responsibility to protect us from punishment and pushed 
us to negotiate.

We decided from the start that we would not plead guilty. We are not the 
ones who broke the law, it was the US government that violated 
international law and collaborated with regime-change agents who tried 
to terrorize us and deny us our rights.

We called ourselves the Embassy Protection Collective in part because we 
hoped that delaying the US’ illegal handover of the embassy to Juan 
Guaido would allow the two countries to negotiate a mutual protecting 
power agreement and resolve the issue peacefully. We worried that 
violating the Vienna Convention would escalate the conflict and perhaps 
lead to military aggression. We felt that this struggle was bigger than 
us as individuals.

We achieved a victory, given that the Venezuelan embassy is empty at 
present. Vecchio was allowed to enter for one day to take photos but is 
not inside as he hoped.

No matter how this prosecution turns out, our intent is to ensure it 
helps build the movement against US foreign intervention, economic 
warfare, military threats and regime change campaigns. The era of the 
Monroe Doctrine must come to an end and the sovereignty of all nations 
must be respected.

We see ourselves in a win-win situation. If we are acquitted, it will be 
a US jury siding with us against the coup. If we are convicted after a 
fictional trial, we will use that to propel the movement for peace and 
justice. We do not want to go to jail or to be heavily fined, but no 
matter how this case turns out, the movement will grow and the failure 
of the Venezuelan coup will be more evident to all.

*How would you describe the support from grassroots and progressive 
groups in the US and especially in Venezuela?*

We greatly appreciate the support of movements in Venezuela and the US 
during this entire ordeal. During the time in the embassy, we were 
supported constantly by people who rallied outside and who stayed 
through the night to watch what the mob was doing. There was a constant 
media presence by teleSUR, Grayzone and Mintpress News as well as social 
media activists.

People worked incredibly hard to allow us to continue in the embassy. We 
received donations and messages of support from people across the United 
States. We loved the messages of solidarity we received from social 
movements in Venezuela and appreciated the words of support from the 
Venezuelan foreign ministry and president.

When theEmbassy Protectors Defense Committee 
<http://www.defendembassyprotectors.org/> formed, it meant it was not 
the four of us against the United States government, but a community of 
people from across the country standing together. The committee has 
raised funds for our legal defense and has organized speaking tours for 
us to raise awareness of what is happening and break through the 
corporate media lies. Many social movements and left-wing political 
parties organized these events, so it has increased our solidarity in 
the US. We also look forward to returning to Venezuela when we can.

*In the face of the potentially life-changing consequences of the trial, 
how are you holding up psychologically?*

We are doing well overall. We will accept the outcome of this process 
and are resolved to use whatever happens as a positive to keep raising 
awareness and building the anti-imperialist movement.

We know that being in a US prison is very unpleasant, but we also know 
we will still have supporters on the outside and we will get through it. 
We are taking steps to make sure our families and children are looked 
after, and our anti-imperialist work continues.

We know people who have spent time in prison. If we serve time, we will 
learn more about the conditions faced by prisoners and how to organize 
to improve them.

If we lose the case, we will know that it is not a bad reflection on us 
as individuals but the reality of the system in which we live. We will 
join the millions of other people who have had similar experiences. The 
psychological impact has been a greater commitment to take action for 
justice in the US where we have very serious economic, racial and 
environmental problems as well for justice in the US’ Venezuela policy.

(1) Discovery is a legal procedure in which either party or parties can 
request to have access to the evidence presented by the other party 
previous to the trial.

/The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not 
necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff./

-- 
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863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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