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.

BREAKING: @medeabenjamin and @ArielElyseGold just disrupted Carlos Vecchio, illegitimate Venezuelan “president” Juan Guaido’s envoy to the US. The US is facilitating a coup that may very well lead to a civil war. We say: no coup, no civil war, no imperialism! #HandsOffVenezuela pic.twitter.com/P64OvPW8sY

— CODEPINK (@codepink) February 21, 2019

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.

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.”

BREAKING the Venezuelan opposition had a press conference today in Washington DC. What what @ArielElyseGold and I did pic.twitter.com/I8EbKjU6MR

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) February 21, 2019

Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.

This article was originally published by "Grey Zone" -

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