Last week, Code Pink pledged never to leave the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., as a means of (somehow) preventing the United States from orchestrating a coup to overthrow Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro. The group, lead by longtime pro-Communism activist Medea Benjamin, “occupied” the embassy for weeks, getting food delivered, hosting meetings and events, and lecturing counter-protesters who were actually from Venezuela on the benefits of a Maduro regime.
Sadly, though, all that came to an end on Monday, as federal agents evicted the occupiers by force.
Federal agents posted a “trespassing notice” early Monday morning, warning Code Pink that the official representatives of Venezuela had requested that they vacate the premesis “and do not return without the ambassadors’ express authorization.” The notice warned that if Code Pink did not comply, they would be arrested by federal agents authorized to clear the building.
THE TRESPASSING NOTICE HAS BEEN POSTED. THE VENEZUELAN EMBASSY IS OURS pic.twitter.com/RVMcbzid0x
— Ask a Venezuelan (@askavenezuelan) May 13, 2019
The notice also made clear that the United States no longer recognizes the “former Maduro regime” and that Code Pink’s apparent familiarity with the building’s former residents wouldn’t help them.
Code Pink, of course, had no plans to leave the embassy, and said so. They continued to order food and supplies delivered to the Venezuelan embassy in violation of the eviction order, until around 6 p.m. EST, when armed federal agents appeared at the embassy’s doorstep, ready to pull Code Pink from the building by force.
WATCH:
#AHORA Agentes federales notifican a invasores que:
1. Las autoridades legítimas y reconocidas por #EEUU son las designadas por Pdte. (E) @jguaido.
2. Que deben desalojar inmediatamente.
3. Si desconocen la orden, serán encarceladas y procesadas judicialmente.¡Seguimos por! pic.twitter.com/aR6gvcRhVr
— CARLOS VECCHIO (@carlosvecchio) May 13, 2019
In the video, the agents notify the “occupiers” that they are trespassing on Venezuelan property, that they must gather their things and leave immediately, and that if they do not obey orders, they will be arrested and prosecuted.
Code Pink, of course, took the third option. By 7 p.m., most of the Code Pink protesters were marched out of the embassy by federal agents, despite their efforts to stay and despite their efforts to “save” certain items, including a portrait of Simon Bolivar, from the “usurpers.”
In one final act of resistance, reporter @anyaparampil carries a portrait of Simón Bolivar over her face while being forced to exit Venezuela’s embassy.
She shouts “Bolivar y Chavez Vive!” in the face of @carlosvecchio‘s staffer before police threaten to arrest her for stealing. pic.twitter.com/jbb2KIie8o— Alex Rubinstein (@RealAlexRubi) May 13, 2019
Actual Venezuelans, who have been protesting Code Pink’s occupation for the last two weeks, watched the drama unfold from the street outside the embassy and couldn’t contain their excitment that the last vestiges of Maduro’s Communist regime had finally been removed from the embassy building. The Venezuelans celebrated in the streets outside as Code Pink was being carted off.
Agentes policiales y federales de Estados Unidos, listos para sacar a los invasores que están dentro de la Embajada de Venezuela en Washington. Buen trabajo de la comunidad venezolana en esa zona. pic.twitter.com/8xKQvE0GMV
— Jose Antonio Colina (@JoseColinaP) May 14, 2019
A esta hora, autoridades federales stán fumigando la embajada de Venezuela en Washington DC de la plaga invasora Pro-chavista. ¡ALLI NO PUEDEN HACER LO QUE LES DA LA GANA! pic.twitter.com/IHCLKqFHuA
— Venezolanos (@venezoIanos) May 14, 2019
A handful of Venezuelans also took to Twitter to call the mostly white Code Pink contingent “invaders” and “imperialists.”
Code Pink claims that at least four activists are still inside the embassy and that federal agents have not yet made good on their promise to forcibly evict and arrest the remaining occupiers. They may not last long, however. On their way out of the building Monday night, the agents who escorted most of the Code Pink protesters out, closed and locked the door behind them, zip-tying the handles shut so that no one could go in or out and shut off water and electricity to the property.
Venezuelan counter-protesters made sure that no food or deliveries made it into the embassy overnight.
Code Pink says it is not deterred, and a sign in the window of the embassy claimed that the occupiers had forestalled a coup for “35 days,” though it’s not entirely clear what, precisely, they were preventing (other than new occupants of the building). The group plans to hold a protest outside the embassy Wednesday, ostensibly to support their comrades who remain inside without food or water, but also probably to lecture more Venezuelans about the benefits of socialism.