BIDEN INAUGURAL GUEST IS A VENEZUELAN COUP LEADER
By Anya Parampil, The Grayzone.
January 20, 2021 | EDUCATE!
Above photo: President Trump with Carlos Vecchio.
Carlos Vecchio Has Been Charged With Inciting Violent Assault On A
Government Building.
After condemning the pro-Trump invasion of the Capitol, the incoming Biden
administration invited Carlos Vecchio a coup leader charged in the 2014
torching of the Venezuelan Attorney Generals office to its inaugural
ceremony.
As Washington recovered from shock and outrage caused by pro-Trump hooligans
storming the United States Congress breaking windows, smashing doors, and
intimidating police officers in order to push their way inside a sense of
pre-inaugural excitement began to sweep the nations capital. Who would be
attending incoming President Joe Bidens inauguration on January 20,
scheduled to take place exactly two weeks following the Capitol riot?
While heavily armed National Guard troops descended onto Washingtons
streets to set up check-points, construct fences around government
buildings, and establish their military presence, news about the upcoming
swearing-in ceremony began to trickle out in the media.
Lady Gaga was booked to belt out the National Anthem, while Jennifer Lopez,
John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, and a host of other Democratic Party-aligned
pop artists were scheduled to perform throughout the day. Former Trump
cabinet members, including Vice President Mike Pence, Supreme Court
Justices, and lawmakers were all expected to attend, though the National
Mall would be closed to the general public.
Beyond entertainers and high-level federal officials, foreign dignitaries
were invited to join a smaller-than-usual group of individuals permitted to
witness the days festivities. Among those dignitaries is Carlos Vecchio, a
former Exxon lawyer who currently serves as US-recognized Interim
President Juan Guaidós envoy in Washington. When the Trump Administration
initiated a coup against Venezuelas government in January of 2019, Vecchio
became Guaidós ambassador, and has risen to prominence as the de facto
leader of a US-based exile lobby dedicated to toppling Venezuelas
UN-recognized government.
The Biden teams decision to invite Vecchio was a disappointing sign to
those hoping the new administration would break from Trumps failed and
destructive policy of recognizing Guaidó as Venezuelas leader. In the two
years since Washington appointed the previously unknown opposition figure to
lead its attempt at regime change, Guaidó has failed to rally public support
in Venezuela or gain control of any government ministry. The countrys
military remains loyal to President Nicolás Maduro and the United Nations
still recognizes the Maduro governments authority.
Beyond giving the appearance that Biden will continue the Trump
Administrations doomed Venezuela policy, Vecchios presence at the
presidential swearing-in ceremony was filled with irony. In the days
following the Capitol riot, Biden and his allies have denounced the violent
takeover of Congress as an assault on democracy, with the incoming president
himself declaring the rioters to be domestic terrorists.
Yet Carlos Vecchio, the Guaidó ally with a fresh ticket to Bidens
inauguration, is responsible for leading his own assault on his home
countrys democracy and is currently wanted in Venezuela for inciting a
violent attack on the Attorney Generals office in Caracas.
Bidens Guest Charged With Inspiring A Violent Assault On Venezuelas Public
Institutions
On February 12, 2014, right-wing opposition leader Leopoldo López led a
feverish rally of his supporters in the heart of Venezuelas capital,
Caracas. For over a month, López and his political allies had been holding
demonstrations aimed at overthrowing newly-elected president Nicolás Maduro,
who came into office following snap elections held in the aftermath of Hugo
Chávezs death.
Carlos Vecchio, the corporate lawyer who went on to represent Juan Guaidó in
Washington, also spoke at the demonstration, and stood loyally by Lópezs
side as he delivered his incendiary speech calling for an angry march to the
Attorney Generals office, and whipping the crowd into chants of, No fear!
No fear!
Lópezs supporters heeded his call and charged straight for the office of
Venezuelas Public Prosecutor, eventually setting the building on fire.
Columbia Universitys Global Freedom of Expression project conceded the
mayhem resulted in the death of two people and considerable damage to
public property.
López and his allies, including Vecchio, were charged for their role in
inciting the destruction. López was eventually sentenced to 13 years in
prison for his actions, while Vecchio fled to the United States to escape
incitement of violence charges.
The attack on Venezuelas public institutions in February of 2014 mirrored
events that would take place in Washington DC roughly six years later, when
President Donald Trump delivered a speech on the White House eclipse
instructing his supporters to march to the Capitol as lawmakers voted to
cerity his election loss. Within minutes of arriving at Congress, Trumps
followers overwhelmed the meager crowd of police deployed to protect the
legislature and forced their way inside unafraid to shatter doors and
windows as they did so.
Following the violent breach of the Capitol, incoming president Joe Biden
characterized the mobs actions as an unprecedented assault on our
democracy, an assault literally on the citadel of liberty, in the United
States Capitol itself and an assault on the rule of law. Democrats in the
House of Representatives quickly moved to impeach Trump, charging the
president with incitement of insurrection.
In light of their outraged response to the Capitol raid, which they branded
an act of illegal insurrection, Biden and his allies might be sympathetic to
the Venezuelan government, which similarly moved to charge López and his
co-conspirators, including Vecchio, for their role in encouraging a blitz on
government buildings after the countrys Attorney Generals office was
torched by a politically-charged mob.
Instead, the wanted coup leader Vecchio was welcomed by a bipartisan crew of
top Washington politicians including President Trump, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, Florida neocon Senator Marco Rubio, and former Democratic Party
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The violent actions of Vecchio and his allies were hardly limited to the
events of February 12, 2014. The chaotic demonstrations they led lasted
until May of that year, resulting in the deaths of 49 people and roughly 10
billion dollars in damage. Regime change rampages by Venezuelas opposition
have featured assaults on journalists, the construction of barricades manned
by vandals, and the burning to death of political opponents.
On June 13, 2017, activists set Venezuelas Supreme Court on fire following
jailed opposition leader Lópezs call for a rebellion against the Maduro
government. Days later a police officer named Óscar Pérez hijacked a
government helicopter and attempted to launch four grenades at the Court
while firing live bullets at the countrys Interior Ministry. (Trump honored
Pérez during a political rally in South Florida on February 18, 2019).
For his part, Juan Guaidó has led two failed campaigns of violent
insurrection against Venezuelas government. In April of 2019, he called for
an uprising against President Maduro while a group of a few dozen soldiers
launched an attack on the La Carlota Air Base in Caracas. While the
rebellion failed to generate popular support, López was broken out of house
arrest during the days events, leading to his eventual exile in Spain.
Roughly a year later, Guaidó was exposed at the center of yet another coup
plot when former U.S. Green Beret Jordan Goudreau accused the politician of
contracting his services to carry out a botched capture or kill operation
targeting President Maduro. Goudreau, who previously provided private
security for Trump campaign rallies, produced a contract containing Guaidós
signature along with a voice recording of Guaidó allegedly discussing the
deal though Guaidó himself has denied involvement.
Biden and the Democrats reacted with indignation when the U.S. Capitol was
breached for just one afternoon, immediately initiating Trumps second
impeachment by the House of Representatives. Within days, the Capitol was
surrounded with unscalable fencing and 25,000 National Guard soldiers were
summoned to occupy central Washington DC more than three times the amount
of troops deployed to Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan combined.
It would be instructive to imagine how Democrats would have responded if
Trump or his supporters attempted anything like the years-long campaign of
insurrection by Venezuelas opposition and did so with the full-throated
support of a foreign power. What if Trump supporters had set up barricades
around Washington DC, preventing residents from leaving or entering their
own neighborhoods? What if they had lit the Supreme Court on fire and bombed
it from the air in a stolen military helicopter? And how would Democrats
have reacted if Trump had contracted foreign mercenaries to capture or kill
Biden?
Anyone troubled by these hypothetical scenarios should be equally disturbed
that Carlos Vecchio, a veteran coup leader allied with seditious forces in
his home country, will be present at Bidens inauguration on January 20.
Sen. Durbin Lobbies For Venezuelan Coup Leaders Hours After Condemning
Trumpist Insurrection
In the lead up to the House vote on President Trumps impeachment, on
January 11, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin tweeted, The President and his
Republican enablers incited a violent mob into storming the Capitol
This
was an assault on our democracy, our national security, and our
Constitution. There must be accountability, including impeachment.
Hours later Durbin took to Twitter again to boast of his meeting with
incoming Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, saying the two discussed his
plan for the State Department in the Biden Administration.
According to the senators office, Durbin explicitly advocated the Biden
administration preserve support for Juan Guaidó, whom he described as
Venezuelas Interim-President.
We thank you Senator Durbin for addressing with the nominee for U.S.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken the critical situation of Venezuela, the
actions to restoring democracy hijacked by Nicolas Maduros dictatorship,
and the necessary support to the Venezuelan people, Vecchio tweeted in
response to news of the conversation.
