Are you aware of the current trial of four members of the Embassy Protection Collective -- and of the surrounding issues? On February 11 their trial began. However, few media sources have covered the trial, the pre-trial hearings, or the events last year in April and May that led to them.
Can you take some local action to support a better informed public?
We urge you to contact media outlets to request news coverage of this trial and the related issues of international law and the facts about Venezuela! Write a letter to the editor in local media about this situation, so that people can learn about the issues surrounding this trial.
In these times of a lawless US president, the public has a need for coverage and accuracy on matters related to international law.
What happened?
Last April, the US government attempted to turn over the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC, to the forces that had pursued an attempted coup in Venezuelan. (You may be aware that Juan Guaidó, the titular head of this failed coup, was just in Washington, DC, to be applauded by Congress at Trump's State of the Union speech.) The US president chose to recognize the Guaidó-led group and to expel from the embassy the diplomats appointed by the government elected by the people of Venezuela.
With the permission of the elected government of Venezuela, the Embassy Protection Collective stayed at the Embassy to protect it from an illegal takeover. Four nonviolent Embassy Protectors remained until federal agents, some in full tactical gear, stormed in and arrested them.
The Embassy Protectors were in the Embassy with the permission of the Venezuelan government. They had agreed they would leave when "protecting powers" agreements were reached, to provide for the protection of the embassy by a country recognized by the US. International law makes an embassy inviolate. Yet all this information -
- or
virtually any other coverage of the Embassy Protectors -- has been absent from most media
.
Contact local and national media to ask for accurate coverage that addresses the background issues!
How fair can this trial be?
You can help counter this ignorance! Inform yourself about this trial, in all its manifest unfairness. See these sources for more information:
Leni Villagomez Reeves
Co-Chair, Cuba and the Bolivarian Alliance Issue Committee
