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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
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href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14782">https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14782</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Embassy Protection Collective: ‘We Are
Not the Ones Who Violated the Law’</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Paul Dobson - February 4,
2020<br>
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<p><em>The US government formally<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244">
recognized</a> 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.</em></p>
<p><em>In March, Guaido’s US representative,<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14244">
Carlos Vecchio</a>, 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 had<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14304">
no legal basis</a> to seize the building .</em></p>
<p><em>The occupation, which began on April 10, came to
an<a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14495">
end</a> 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.</em></p>
<p><em>In this exclusive interview, VA’s Paul Dobson
talks to them about the upcoming trial and its
political consequences.</em></p>
<p><strong>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?</strong></p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>The Trump administration is arguing that our refusal
to leave interfered with the government’s ability to
protect the embassy.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 is<a
href="https://defendembassyprotectors.org/embassy-protectors-are-being-denied-their-right-to-a-fair-trial/">
limiting both what we can say in court and how we
defend ourselves</a>. The Trump administration<a
href="https://defendembassyprotectors.org/trump-prosecutors-make-move-to-ensure-that-embassy-protectors-are-convicted/">
prosecutors have </a>also sought to greatly limit
what the jurors will be told during the trial.</p>
<p><strong>Can you explain how it is that in a political
trial you are banned from talking about politics?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>As a result, the courtroom will be operating within
the legal fiction that Juan Guaido is president of
Venezuela even though he [effectively] has<a
href="http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14317">
not been president</a> for even one minute.</p>
<p>If the prosecutors have their way, the jurors will
not be told the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14439">
Embassy Protection Collective</a> 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>What has the US government got to gain or
lose from the case, and what might the consequences
be for the US popular movement?</strong></p>
<p>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 a<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14495">
US-led [attempted] coup</a>. 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.</p>
<p>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 in<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13849">
May 2018</a>.</p>
<p>The [attempted] coup with the puppet Guaido is
becoming an increasing embarrassment to the Trump
administration. Despite this, the US has renewed its
commitment to<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14758">
fund the opposition in Venezuela</a> and continue
its assault on the sovereignty and well-being of the
country.</p>
<p>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 illegal<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14615">
unilateral coercive measures</a> imposed on
Venezuela<a
href="https://popularresistance.org/40000-dead-venezuelans-under-us-sanctions-corporate-media-turn-a-blind-eye/">
contribute to tens of thousands of </a>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>How do you see your struggle in relation to
global efforts to demand respect for international
law and the UN Charter?</strong></p>
<p>On the day the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in
Washington DC began, Venezuelan embassies <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14723">in
other cities</a> [around the world] were also under
attack. Social movements in those countries defended
those embassies too.</p>
<p>Our presence in the DC embassy went on for long
enough that it received attention around the world. It
highlighted the <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14484">lawlessness</a>
of the United States, something we describe as global
gangsterism.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>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?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Everything changed on April 30, the day of the<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14453">
attempted military coup</a> in Caracas.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The experience at the embassy brought us together in
a profound way that made us a community, that made us
sisters and brothers.</p>
<p><strong>How do you respond to the pressure for you to
accept a plea deal instead of taking this to the
courtroom?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>How would you describe the support from
grassroots and progressive groups in the US and
especially in Venezuela?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>When the<a
href="http://www.defendembassyprotectors.org/">
Embassy Protectors Defense Committee</a> 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.</p>
<p><strong>In the face of the potentially life-changing
consequences of the trial, how are you holding up
psychologically?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>(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.</p>
<p><em>The views expressed in this article are the
author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of
the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.</em></p>
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