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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://popularresistance.org/another-blow-to-us-intervention-venezuela/">https://popularresistance.org/another-blow-to-us-intervention-venezuela/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Mistrial Is Another Blow To US Coup In
Venezuela; Our Work Continues</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">By Kevin Zeese and Margaret
Flowers, Popular Resistance - February 16, 2020<br>
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<p>Last week, we along with Adrienne Pine and David Paul
were unsuccessfully prosecuted by the Trump
administration for our protection of the Venezuelan
embassy in Washington, DC from April 10 to May 16,
2019. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision
and so we remain innocent of the charge of interfering
with the protective functions of the US Department of
State. <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/mistrial-in-trump-biased-prosecution-against-venezuelan-embassy-protectors-is-win-for-sovereignty/">The
judge declared a mistrial</a>. It was a partial
victory and we greatly appreciate the jurors who were
able to see through the cloud of misinformation in the
courtroom and vote to acquit us.</p>
<p>The day our trial started, Juan Guaido returned to
Venezuela where he was harassed and physically assaulted
by protesters. He is unable to muster support at home
even from the opposition. Guaido’s presidential charade
is fading but the United States has not given up on its
regime change campaign in Venezuela. New sanctions are
being imposed and there have been recent attacks of
sabotage within the country that resemble ones backed by
the US in other countries to cause disruption and
discord. As Citizens of Empire, we must continue to
oppose US intervention in other countries.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Note: The Trump prosecutors will announce on
February 28 whether they will prosecute us again.
The Embassy Protection Defense Committee, our
lawyers and the four of us are <a
href="https://defendembassyprotectors.org/trial-of-the-four-embassy-protectors-ends-with-a-deadlocked-jury/">preparing
for a second prosecution</a>. Please check <a
href="http://defendembassyprotectors.org/">DefendEmbassyProtectors.org</a>
for updates and what you can do to help prepare our
defense.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_163115" class="wp-caption">
<p><a
href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/02/final-four-outside-of-court-final-day-of-ist-trial-2-14-20-e1581877897993.jpg"><img
src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/02/final-four-outside-of-court-final-day-of-ist-trial-2-14-20-e1581877897993.jpg"
alt="" width="620" height="279"></a></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">Embassy protectors [left to
right: David Paul, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine,
Kevin Zeese] outside of court on February 13, 2020, by
Martha Allen.</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Confusion In The Courtroom Where Lies Were Told
And The Truth Could Not Be Heard</strong></p>
<p>After the trial, half the jury stayed behind to answer
questions from the lawyers and the judge. What stood out
in their answers was confusion. The information they
heard in court was incomplete, which made it difficult
to understand what happened. A major source of confusion
was that the testimony in the trial was limited to three
days from May 13 when a trespass notice was delivered to
May 16 when the arrests occurred. The jurors were not
allowed to be told about the full 37 days we were in the
embassy when at times more than 70 people stayed there.
They asked — why were you there for those three days?
Why did you go there in May when the new president, Juan
Guaido, came to power in January? The prosecutor’s
successful manipulation of Judge Howell to limit the
testimony to those three days created juror confusion as
the story did not make sense.</p>
<p>Of course, Juan Guaido never came to power. He has not
been president for even a nanosecond. When this
so-called ‘president’ <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/guaido-is-back-in-venezuela-now-what/">returned
to Venezuela</a>, after a US-sponsored tour of Europe,
<a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1227368952038293504">the
customs officer took his passpor</a><a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1227368952038293504">t</a>
and explained he had violated the law by leaving the
country. No real president could have a customs officer
take his passport.</p>
<p><a
href="https://twitter.com/MV_Eng/status/1228375725633425409">Guaido
was not welcomed</a> when he walked<a
href="https://twitter.com/dcgisenyi/status/1227355017222463490">
through the airport</a> and out into the streets. He
was surrounded by protesters <a
href="https://sputniknews.com/latam/202002121078291506-videos-guaid-confronted-by-protesters-chanting-murderer-upon-return-to-venezuela/">calling
him a traitor</a> and an <a
href="https://twitter.com/madeleintlSUR/status/1227350906955583492">assassin</a> and <a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1227628583717347328">chasing
him away from the airport</a>. They were angry in
part because during his trip Guaido called for more
sanctions, which have <a
href="https://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/venezuela-sanctions-2019-04.pdf">shortened
the lives of over 40,000 Venezuelans</a>, and in the
past, he even called for a US military attack on his
country. It is obvious he is hated by the people of
Venezuela as even the opposition <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/in-venezuela-reactionary-guaido-humiliated-by-assembly-defeat/">did
not support his re-appointment as president of the
National Assembly</a>. Not only is he not the
president, but he also is not even the leader of the
political opposition to President Maduro.</p>
<p>In the courtroom, due to an anomaly of US law, the jury
was told that Juan Guaido was the president. While many
have criticized Judge Beryl Howell for that ruling, in
reality, she was reflecting US law, which says the
president determines whom the US recognizes as the
leader of a foreign government. This is a political
question that the courts cannot overturn. Judge Howell
sought to keep politics out of the courtroom, but it was
not possible. Taking judicial notice that Guaido is
‘president’ when in the real world he is not made this a
political case based on falsehoods.</p>
<p>The judge explained that “elections have consequences”
as they grant this and other powers to the president.
Judge Howell’s comment was ironic for Venezuelans
because they also have elections as they did in May of
2018 where President<a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/analysis/The-Case-for-Legitimacy-of-Maduros-Second-Presidential-Term-20190108-0026.html">
Maduro won 67 percent</a> in a five-candidate field.
That election had more than 300 international election
observers who concluded it met <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/declaration-of-the-embassy-protection-collective/">all
the requirements for democratic elections under
international law</a>. Kevin Zeese was in Venezuela
for it and <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/on-the-technical-aspects-of-voting-venezuela-does-it-right/">reported
it was a well-run election far superior to many US
elections</a> – especially the Iowa Caucus!</p>
<p>In part because of the limits placed on what we could
say in court, none of the embassy protectors testified.
The <a
href="https://defendembassyprotectors.org/embassy-protectors-gagged-they-will-not-be-able-to-tell-jury-guaido-is-not-president-or-mention-international-law/">judge’s
pre-trial ruling meant we could not tell the whole
truth</a> and made it difficult to testify without
being held in contempt of court, a situation that Alan
Macleod <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/mistrial-declared-in-kafkaesque-d-c-trial-of-venezuela-embassy-protectors/">described
as “Kafkaesque</a>.” Our lawyers, Michael Satin, John
Zwerling, Bill Welch, and Heather Shaner, built our
defense on their excellent cross-examination of the
three government witnesses. After the government
presented its case, the defense rested without calling
any witnesses.</p>
<p>While we hope the prosecutors will not prosecute us
again because<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/14782"> we
are innocent</a> of the charges against us, <a
href="https://defendembassyprotectors.org/trial-of-the-four-embassy-protectors-ends-with-a-deadlocked-jury/">we
are preparing for a second prosecution.</a> It was a
victory to have a hung jury in such a manipulated
environment but we are not yet free. We hope the Trump
administration sees that prosecuting us again will be
viewed by the world as further proof of US injustice.
Another prosecution raises the stakes for the US as an
acquittal or second failed prosecution will be further
evidence of the failed coup. As we have always hoped,
our goal is for the US and Venezuela to develop positive
relations that are based on mutual respect for
sovereignty and international law.</p>
<div id="attachment_163179" class="wp-caption">
<p><a
href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/02/embassy-protection-collective-two-placards-outside-the-embassy-e1581878268942.png"><img
src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/02/embassy-protection-collective-two-placards-outside-the-embassy-e1581878268942.png"
alt="" width="620" height="440"></a></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">Two placards placed outside
the Venezuelan embassy by the Embassy Protectors
Collective. From Popular Resistance.</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Venezuela Continues to Resist US Regime Change</strong></p>
<p>The US charade claiming Guaido is the president and the
judge refusing to challenge that fiction has dangerous
and deadly consequences. The United States violated
international laws when it invaded the Venezuelan
Embassy in Washington, DC and handed it over to the
leaders of a failed coup. The US signaled to other
countries that centuries of practices that uphold the
inviolability of embassies no longer matter. It also
signaled that elections don’t matter. The US believes it
can decide who is the leader of another country and hand
over the assets of that country to whomever it chooses.</p>
<p>The Venezuelan National Assembly is <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/venezuelan-assembly-to-investigate-us-funding-to-guaido/">currently
investigating</a> Juan Guaido, particularly his
backing by the United States and the theft of
Venezuela’s assets. Guaido has already been restricted
from traveling out of Venezuela for taking money from
foreign countries, a restriction he has defied multiple
times. Guaido also violated the Venezuelan Constitution
by claiming to be the president, a power that only
exists when the elected president and vice president are
unable to serve. In the case where the president of the
national assembly is required to step in as president,
there must be an election for a new president within
thirty days.</p>
<p>Guaido is being accused of receiving financial support
from Alejandro Betancourt, who is being prosecuted in
the United States for laundering billions of dollars.
Betancourt is the cousin of Leopoldo Lopez, the head of
the right-wing Popular Will Party. Lopez was convicted
of inciting violence and escaped last year to seek
asylum in the Spanish Embassy. It was <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/giuliani-told-u-s-his-client-deserves-leniency-for-financing-venezuelas-opposition/">recently
discovered</a> that Rudy Giuliani met with Guaido’s
father and others in Spain and then met with the US
Department of Justice to request leniency for
Betancourt.</p>
<p>Guaido is also implicated in a <a
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Juan-Guaido-Stars-Venezuelas-Biggest-Corruption-Case-Ever-20200215-0005.html">case
being brought by Venezuela</a> against the United
States for “<span>the theft of [Venezuela’s] foreign
assets and bank deposits… The looting equals up to
US$116 billion.” Venezuela <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/venezuela-accuses-us-of-crimes-against-humanity-at-the-international-criminal-court/">recently
filed a case</a> in the International Criminal Court
for crimes against humanity. The day may come when the
United States is held accountable and is no longer
allowed to act with impunity.</span></p>
<p>A major goal of the action to protect the Venezuelan
Embassy in Washington, DC was to raise awareness that
the US was escalating its lawless actions. Interference
in the elections of another country, threats of military
invasion and the imposition of coercive economic
measures (aka sanctions) are violations of the United
Nations Charter. Failing to protect embassies violates
the Vienna Convention. The <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/ColectivosporlaPaz/?modal=admin_todo_tour">Embassy
Protection Collective</a>, composed of hundreds of
activists for peace and justice, did prevent the embassy
in Washington, DC from being given to the
coup-supporters. It is empty today.</p>
<p>The action in the embassy was also an act of solidarity
with the people of Venezuela struggling for
self-determination and a new society that puts people’s
needs and protection of the planet above corporate
profits. We have so much to learn from Venezuela about
democracy, ending poverty and creating a world for
everyone.</p>
<p>As Citizens of Empire, our work is not over. We must
continue to oppose sanctions and US intervention in
other countries. The San Francisco Labor Council
recently <a
href="https://popularresistance.org/san-francisco-labor-council-resolves-abolish-u-s-imposed-economic-sanctions/">passed
a resolution</a> opposing sanctions. You can do the
same in your community. Urge your local groups, city or
county council or other institutions to do the same. And
listed below are a few more ways to get involved in the
struggle for peace.</p>
<blockquote>
<h3><strong>Register Now For The United National Antiwar
Conference, “<a
href="https://popularresistance.org/event/rise-against-militarism-racism-and-the-climate-crisis/">Rise
Against Militarism, Racism And The Climate Crisis</a>”
In New York City From February 21 To 23.</strong></h3>
<h3><strong>Take Action: Join The <a
href="https://sanctionskill.org/">International
Days Of Action Against Sanctions And Economic War</a>, March
13 – 15, 2020</strong></h3>
<h3>Upcoming: <span>The World Peace Council And The
Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases,
International Conference, “</span><em>Confronting
Imperialism’s War Machine — The Global Struggle For
Peace, Social Justice, National Sovereignty And The
Environment</em><span>,” On March 28-29, 2020, In
Larnaca, Cyprus. <a
href="https://antiimperialistconferencecyprus.org/conference-registration/?epl_action=process_cart_action&cart_action=add&event_id=2650&_rand=5e1fbcf3e4d20">Register
Here</a>.</span></h3>
</blockquote>
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Freedom Archives
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415 863.9977
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