[Peace] Attorney Stops Federal Raid Attempt on Venezuelan Embassy

[Karen Aram]

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Home<https://www.dcmediagroup.us/> » News<https://www.dcmediagroup.us/category/news-2/> » Attorney Stops Federal Raid Attempt on Venezuelan Embassy
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Attorney Stops Federal Raid Attempt on Venezuelan Embassy
by John Zangas<https://www.dcmediagroup.us/author/johnzangashotmail-com/>|Published May 14, 2019<https://www.dcmediagroup.us/2019/05/14/>

Washington, DC–On Monday night Secret Service, DC Police, and State Department agents attempted a coordinated raid on the Embassy of Venezuela to arrest activists that have been inside for a month. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney representing the activists’ interests at the Embassy, intervened on their behalf as federal agents entered the building. She notified them that they had no legal authority to enter the Embassy when they did not present a signed warrant authorizing them to arrest the activists.

Beginning about 7pm, Metropolitan Police several times read an order to the activists over a loudspeaker outside the Embassy that the U.S. Government had recognized Juan Guaidó as the President of Venezuela and Carlos Vecchio as the Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, and they were no longer welcome in the Embassy. Agents then ordered them to cease trespassing on Embassy grounds and that failure to immediately leave would result in their arrest. The activists did not appear at windows or acknowledge the order.

The activists, who call themselves the Embassy Protection Collective, are there at the invitation of the Venezuelan government. On Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tweeted his support for them. U.S.-supported coup attempts led by Juan Guaido have failed, but the U.S. government persists in recognizing Guaido as the self-proclaimed president of Venezuela and expelled its diplomats. The U.N. recognizes President Maduro, who won reelection in May 2018 with 68% of the vote.

The activists held up signs last night reading: “Criminals break in. We have the keys.”

Secret Service Agents cut chains on the doors which had been placed there by diplomats before they left the country on April 24, then entered the Embassy with flashlights. They asked the activists to voluntarily leave, but they declined unless certain conditions were met under international law.

It turned out the order posted and read by police was produced on nondescript paper and not authenticated with either a signature or stamp by any federal agency or authority. The agents left the Embassy after some consultation with Verheyden-Hilliard and did not arrest any of the activists remaining inside.

Earlier in the day, however, in anticipation of the coming raid, The Grayzone Project reporter Anya Parammpil and Mintpress News journalist Alex Rubinstein voluntarily left the Embassy. This left only four activists inside the Embassy. Others had left on Sunday or before.

[https://i2.wp.com/www.dcmediagroup.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/46931353165_2893f11895_z.jpg?resize=640%2C480&ssl=1]<https://i2.wp.com/www.dcmediagroup.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/46931353165_2893f11895_z.jpg?ssl=1>The four members of the Embassy Protection Collective still remaining inside the embassy

Police also forced the opposition to remove all signs, tents and equipment from outside the Embassy and move back to the opposite side of the street. They put up barricades and closed
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