As the ongoing stand-off continues between the invited guests of the legitimate Venezuelan government in the DC embassy and right-wing opposition besieging the building, I have released a weekly series on the daily events happening on or around the embassy. This is the first installment in a series of debriefs I will release.

Courtesy: Liberation News

May 4th, 2019

After a restless night of being besieged by the right-wing Venezuelan opposition blaring dangerous scuba lights into the building, attempting to break in and vandalize the place along with hurling racist and sexist slurs -the Embassy Protection Collective woke up to even more chaos from the opposition outside and one of their members being arrested by the secret service. Two embassy protectors were arrested outside of the building after attempted to set a tent outside of the embassy — even though the opposition had put up many tents unmolested by police.

Medea Benjamin of Code Pink recounts what happened to the member who got arrested.

One of the two activists arrested earlier from Baltimore this morning was later released and she recounted the experience of being arrested and physically shoved by and wrangled by secret service after attempting to set up a tent :

On top of activists facing abuse and harassment, a Telsur correspondent documented having the lock to her home being smashed in following her coverage of the protests.

She also reported being subject to racist abuse by a Venezuelan opposition protestor.

AT 1 PM the collective, consisting of Code Pink, ANSWER Coalition and Popular Resistance held a rally outside of the building to defend it from the opposition who have spent the past few days attempting to break into the embassy.

While the opposition attempted to drown out their voices with megaphone sirens, screams and clanging on pots and pans, the collective also stood their ground by holding up signs, chanting:

“When Venezuela is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back.”

The crowd called against US intervention:

“What do we want? US out! When do want it? Now!”

Many of the activists pointed out the class character of the opposition protesters, who took expensive trips to Europe or worked at neoliberal or even straight up war-mongering organizations such as Raytheon, the defense contractor company or the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

The opposition blared horns, set up tents, and shouted “Hands off our embassy.”

The protectors argued that they had the legal right to be there under the Vienna convention, as they are the invited guests of the democratically-elected Venezuelan government.

Other opposition activists continued to harass the embassy protectors.

Many protectors had to wear ear plugs due to it being so loud in general and due to the opposition tactic of putting piercing megaphone sirens right in the ear of embassy protectors, media, and even neutral legal observers. Embassy protectors continued with chants, such as “How many coups, does it take? Juan Guaido is a fake.”

Two opposition protesters were arrested. One was arrested after crossing the police line,

another was arrested over drug charges.

There were also reports of opposition members openly drinking on the street, despite not having a permit.

Arrests of the opposition, rare until this day, were likely due to supporters answering the call from the embassy protectors to flood the lines of the police and Secret Service with complaints about the bigoted, violent opposition which had until then operated with relative impunity.

However, these arrests pale in comparison to the unjust arrests of the embassy protectors.

The arrests this morning was the third round after one individual was thrown to the ground by police for attempting to deliver medicine.

and earlier, CodePink member Ariel Gold, another member of the collective, and one opposition member were all arrested.

Gold had attempted to throw food up to the embassy so the collective inside could have something to eat, however she instead was arrested and charged with throwing “missiles.”

Later in the day, the opposition found a band to play music outside of the embassy, but 40 minutes later, they were forced to leave as the embassy protectors drowned them out with their anti-war and anti-hate slogans.

This gave the embassy protectors the idea to put on their own music.

The opposition’s harassment continued into the night, as they blasted strobe lights into the windows of the embassy. However the protectors didn’t let that get the best of them, and continued their own indoor concert.

The protectors spent the night dancing and blasting music out the window, defying the opposition’s constant noise harassment and bigotry.

May 5th, 2019

The next morning was followed with more struggle as a postal worker who attempted to deliver mail to the embassy was stopped by secret service police and forced to fill out a “We missed you” slip, even as the addressee of the package called out the window that they were present and willing to accept it.

However the rainy Sunday meant that there were less people in the opposition surrounding the embassy.

Groups showed up in support, such as Committee in Solidarity with People in El Salvador (CISPES), MAS-IPSP and Gabriela DC, and marched up the street to show their solidarity with the embassy protectors inside.

The #AskaVenezuelan opposition-run twitter account later in the day posted a photo of food that was donated to the opposition protesters as they continued to besiege the embassy. However, one journalist pointed out that there was a possibility that the food they claimed as donations to them were actually meant for the people inside.

When an embassy protector and (member of CodePink) was arrested previously, opposition filmed the arrest and sped it up to make it look like he was attacking a pregnant woman. Juan Guaido’s fake ambassador Carlos Vecchio, who has been hanging around the embassy each day and taking selfies with opposition members retweeted the fake video, demanding for the eviction of the collective.

Many of the embedded journalists and organizations were swift in response to these accusations and doctored video, arguing that they were blatant falsifications against an elderly and disabled person.

While many attempted to deliver food to the embassy for the protectors the opposition and secret service made multiple attempts to block food from entering the building.

The opposition protesters formed their own blockade by holding hands around the embassy preventing food from being delivered in.

Following an arrest that happened Saturday when a CodePink member tried to erect a tent, the opposition destroyed the tent overnight, however there were no reported arrests by secret service made against those who damaged the tent.

Following the damage of the tent, the opposition then erected one of their own and didn’t face any arrests.

Code Pink member Ariel Gold, who was arrested and released earlier in the week confronted Former VP and 2020 Presidential Candidate Joe Biden to stand against US intervention in Venezuela. Biden gave some words of lip service but got into his car and drove away from the crowd of people confronting him about whether or not he will take a stance for peace.

Later that night activists confronted secret service for allowing the opposition protesters to sign scuba lights into the eyes of the collective.

May 6th, 2019

However, the protesters weren’t dis empowered from the constant harassment they faced by the opposition. Even early Monday morning when the opposition continued flashing high-powered lights into the building, momentum still built with solidarity organizers coming out to support the protectors.

Morale was up, despite the fact that Secret Service had cut down the trees that were used to hold up banners the day before.

During the night,Juan Guaido’s fake ambassador Carlos Vecchio made another visit to the embassy taking selfies with the opposition protesters. Journalists and the embassy protectors yelled outside the windows asking Vecchio tough questions such as the fact that CNN referred to him as an “opposition envoy” rather than “ambassador” or “diplomat.’

May 7th, 2019

The collective celebrated a victory in the morning as someone delivered a package of food from Amazon and CodePink members were able to maneuver around opposition protesters trying to keep them from getting the food in.

Meanwhile, CodePink’s Medea Benjamin visited the already-seized military attache building in Washington to investigate what exactly the opposition was doing in there, and to ask for protection from the bigoted and violent crowd besieging the embassy building.

When the door was answered, Benjamin asked if the people at the door, who did not disclose their names, were the “pro-Guaido” people. Instead one of them replied, “I can’t talk about that.” She then explained how the opposition was attacking the protestors at the embassy.

The man at the door told her to call the fake ambassador but Benjamin said that she and other people did without getting an answer.

She then went on to explain that her shoulder dislocated when she was hit by one member of the opposition and talked about how scared the embassy protectors were. In response, all the man could say was that “every action has a consequence,” and not to worry.

He then went on to say that it’s not his field nor his responsibility. The man then identified himself as a colonel and told her that if she didn’t want to face violence she should know exactly what to do.

Back at the embassy, the fire department showed up to the front doors, but then left without explanation.

Then, the protectors later noticed that the opposition had destroyed the embassy’s security cameras. As far as is known, they have received no reprisal from police for this act of property damage which the Secret Service is duty-bound to prevent under the Vienna Convention.

Carlos Vecchio seemed to get the memo that having bigoted protesters was not a good look for the opposition, so he thought that it would be smart to make the opposition wear rainbow flags. However the protectors saw right through this, and pointed out that their rainbow flags were akin to pink-washing in Israel. One CodePink member who was livestreaming their interactions with the opposition crowd got accused of having “diseases” a common homophobic trope that stems back to the AIDS crisis in the 80’s.

However, when the livestreamer said that they were being bigoted one of the members of the opposition held up a rainbow scarf to somehow “prove” that they were not homophobic despite having one of their members allude to the horrific neglect of gay people and all people infected with the HIV/AIDS virus during the Reagan era that resulted in mass deaths around the country.

Carlos Vecchio again made another appearance outside of the embassy and even took selfies with the crowd. However like the previous night, the embassy protectors and the journalists embedded inside took the opportunity to confront him about what he could even possibly do at the embassy if he were successful in taking it over.

One embassy protector then listed off the countries that do not recognize Juan Guaido as president over the microphone.

The protectors continued asking Vecchio the hard questions, including who was his foreign minister, as the opposition continued their harassment campaign with the bright scuba lights well into the late night.