‘Willing Pawns in Trump-Orchestrated Coup’: CODEPINK Disrupts Venezuela’s Illegitimate ‘US Ambassador’

Anti-war activists disrupted an event in Washington, DC featuring Carlos Vecchio, the illegitimate “US ambassador” appointed by Venezuela’s right-wing coup regime and its Trump-selected leader Juan Guaidó.

CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin walked on stage at the February 21 event and grabbed the mic: “These people are a fraud. They don’t represent the Venezuelan people. They are representing the US-orchestrated coup,” she said.

“These people here want to take Venezuela to a path of civil war and US intervention,” Benjamin continued.

Vecchio, who was educated in and later defected to the United States, co-founded Venezuela’s notorious right-wing Popular Will party with the coup-mongering opposition leader Leopoldo López.

“If you indeed care about the people of Venezuela, you will be calling for negotiations.”

Vecchio, Guaidó, and Venezuela’s right-wing coup operatives have been working closely with the US government to plan a stunt on the Colombia border on February 23, hyping a fabricated “humanitarian crisis” to justify US military intervention.

“This is a very dangerous situation. They want to create a crisis at the border that would be a justification for US intervention,” Benjamin explained in her speech.

“This has nothing to do with a humanitarian situation. Indeed, for a humanitarian situation, the US would lift the economic sanctions that have exacerbated the crisis,” she said.

CODEPINK national co-director Ariel Gold joined her colleague on stage, holding a sign reading “No coup in Venezuela.”

“The issue at the border now is something that is politicizing humanitarian aid,” Benjamin explained. “That is why the Red Cross, the United Nations, and all the legitimate humanitarian groups have insisted that they will not touch with this aid.”

Benjamin called for political negotiations mediated by Mexico, Uruguay, and the Vatican.

“If you indeed care about the people of Venezuela, you will be calling for negotiations,” she said. “You will not recognize these people who are willing pawns in a Trump-orchestrated coup d’état.”