[LMTONLINE] The sun had just dipped below the horizon Wednesday evening when the lights flicked off inside the Venezuelan embassy in Washington.Waves of cheers rolled up and down the ordinarily quiet street in the elite Georgetown neighborhood at the center of an intensifying standoff between backers of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó and left-wing activists who oppose U.S. intervention and support President Nicolás Maduro.
With no electricity, the activists who have been living inside the building adjusted to the latest challenge in their month-long occupation of the embassy. Organizers with Code Pink
... a U.S. anti-war group. The group describes itself as
a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.It was founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and of the other usual antiwar suspects. Its website lists hysterical allegations of US war crimes, and states that thousands of civilians were killed in Fallujah in 2004. Maybe it was millions. Benjamin was a 2000 candidate for the U.S. Senate on the Green Party ticket. She lost...
, a left-leaning organization known for its theatrical and provocative protests, said the utility bills had been paid in full by the building's owners: the Maduro-led Venezuelan government.
The group has been inside the embassy since April 10 at the invitation of Maduro government officials. About two weeks into Code Pink's residency, Venezuelan and Venezuelan-American protesters began to gather outside. They have not left since.
The embassy, a four-story brick building on a quiet side street near the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, has become the site of a proxy power struggle that mirrors the international fight over the future of Venezuela.
Activists inside the building Thursday said they had no running water or electricity, although a front man for D.C. Water said water had not been shut off to the property. The utility Pepco declined to comment on why the electricity apparently was cut.
"Out of respect for customer privacy and public safety and in accordance with Public Service Commission regulations, Pepco does not discuss the status of individual customer accounts or service to individual properties," the company said in a statement. "This privacy protocol covers all Pepco customers including residential, commercial and industrial and government segments."