Guaido’s People Responsible for Damage Done to Venezuelan Embassy - US Activist

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The only damage rendered to the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington came at the hands of US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido’s people, Code Pink activist Paki Wieland told Sputnik.

"We left it in absolutely pristine condition. The only damage that was done was done by the Guaido people who came and broke down the door, who broke some of the tiles down and broke a window", Wieland said.

Wieland said Code Pink received a phone call from one of the activists inside the Embassy, Kevin Zeese, who told them that the police were breaking into the building. There were no activists or press representatives near the Embassy at the time of the break in, Wieland added.

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Earlier in the day, US law enforcement personnel dressed in military gear broke down the embassy front door and arrested four activists who had been residing in the building since April 24 in a bid to prevent Guaido’s representatives from taking over. A State Department official told Sputnik that US authorities arrested the four activists on trespassing charges.

Zeese was arrested along with fellow activists Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul.

The activists, members of the Embassy Protection Collective, occupied the premises with permission of Venezuelan diplomats who were ordered to leave the country by the Trump administration.

On Saturday, US authorities turned off the water in the embassy and have prevented food and medical supplies from being delivered to the facility. Iconic civil rights leader Jesse Jackson visited the embassy on Wednesday to deliver food and show solidarity in trying to prevent a war in Venezuela.

In April, Zeese told Sputnik that members of the group were willing to get arrested to protect the embassy on behalf of the legitimate UN-recognized leader of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro.

Zeese, a public interest lawyer and director of the Popular Resistance advocacy group, served as press secretary for Ralph Nader’s 2004 presidential campaign. Zeese was also the US state of Maryland’s Green Party Candidate for US Senate in 2006.

READ MORE: WATCH Activist Detail How Police Stormed Venezuelan Embassy

Code Pink is a women-led grassroots social justice and antiwar movement. The name Code Pink is a play on US Homeland Security color-coded threat advisory levels that range from Code Green to Code Red, which the advocacy group said then-President George W. Bush used to scare Americans to build support ahead of the 2003 Iraq invasion.

On Monday, Guaido formally asked the US military for help in overthrowing the Venezuelan government. Maduro has accused Guaido of being a US puppet and collaborating with Washington to take power in Caracas in order to control the country’s oil resources.