Trial of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Begins February 11

By Leni Villagomez Reeves
Co-chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee

Based on an article in Dissident Voice by Ajamu Baraka and Bahman Azad; thanks to the authors for granting permission to use their material.

February 2020

The trial of the Embassy Protectors – the four people who stayed in the Venezuelan Embassy for 37 days to prevent it from being handed over to leaders of the attempted coup – will begin on February 11, 2020, in Washington, DC. Will it be a fair trial? The judge’s decisions so far suggest it will not.

Adrienne Pine, David Paul, Margaret Flowers, and Kevin Zeese are facing federal charges punishable by up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine each, with possible additional costs as “restitution” for the police costs of arresting them.

US District Court Judge Beryl Howell will decide what facts can be presented at the trial in a pre-trial hearing on January 29. On December 13, 2019, the judge already denied the defense's discovery motions, restricting the scope of the trial greatly. Now the state prosecutors want to limit presentation of the facts still more, to make sure that the jury has no real information about the case they are judging.

What the prosecutors want to hide from the jury

The prosecutors do not want jurors to know that Nicolas Maduro is the democratically-elected president of Venezuela.

The prosecutors do not want the jury to know that the Embassy Protectors were inside the embassy with the permission of the elected government of Venezuela, so that government was recognized not only under Venezuelan law but also by the United Nations.

According to Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, foreign embassies should be protected by the United States government and their space should not be violated by the US government. The jury is not supposed to know that either.

The embassy protectors told the police on May 13, 2019 that they would leave the embassy when protecting powers agreements were reached. One day before the arrest, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations held a press conference at the UN where he explained they were in discussion for Switzerland to be the protector of the US Embassy in Venezuela, and for Turkey to be the protector of the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States. He added that the embassy protectors were in the embassy with Venezuela’s permission. The arrests were made on May 14 prior to the completion of these negotiations. None of this information will be made available to the jury, if the government prosecutors’ motion is approved.

Prosecutors want to conceal from the jury that the protectors were under siege, surrounded by a pro-coup mob that the police allowed to destroy doors and windows, deface the embassy and break into the building; they were also permitted to threaten the protectors and block food from going into the embassy, while the US government shut off the power and water.

The Embassy Protection Collective final four, from left: Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, David Paul, Adrienne Pine. Credit: defendembassyprotectors.org, used with permission.

Just the Facts

If Judge Howell grants the prosecutorial motion in limine (a request that certain testimony be excluded), no facts at all other than the presence of the four embassy protectors in the embassy and the police order to leave will be presented in this trial. The defense will not be permitted to introduce surrounding facts, context, and the reason for their presence.

On December 13, the judge’s actions demonstrated an inclination toward the government view, exhibiting a reluctance to explore the questionable legality of the order to vacate the embassy and the demonstrable illegality of the police entry into a foreign embassy. It will not be a surprise if Judge Howell grants the prosecutors’ motion on January 29. With each decision like this, it becomes increasingly impossible for these four activists to receive a fair trial.  

Although only four remained to be arrested, more than 70 people helped defend the Venezuelan embassy during those 37 days. They went without light and water, after these were cut off, and without food after food deliveries were blocked by mobs with police complicity. They acted in solidarity with the people of Venezuela, who were successfully defending their nation from a right wing US-sponsored coup.

Nicolas Maduro is still the president of Venezuela.

For more information and for actions we can take in solidarity with the four on trial, go to: https://defendembassyprotectors.org/home/