Brave protestor decries US war crimes at Senate hearing. Photo: RT.
A protester who denounced the January 3 US attack on Venezuela was sent to jail. The words were spoken directly to Marco Rubio during a Senate hearing with the US Secretary of State.
“Bombings, killings. That is a war crime,” said a protester during a public appearance of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this Wednesday, January 28. Rubio was questioned before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the illegal actions carried out by the US against Venezuela on January 3—an operation that included the bombing of populated areas in Caracas, Miranda, La Guaira, and Aragua and the kidnapping of the constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The protester’s outcry occurred less than a minute after Marco Rubio—widely known for his warlike policy against Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua—began to justify the actions that clearly violated international law. The protestor was Leonardo Flores, a veteran of activism in defense of Venezuela’s socialist and Bolivarian revolution initiated by President Hugo Chávez in 1999. Flores is a long-standing member of the Code Pink collective and the Venezuelan Solidarity Network.
Leonardo Flores held a sign reading “Hands off Venezuela.” Below it appeared the phrase “Code Pink.” Code Pink describe themselves as a “grassroots feminist organization that works to end war and US imperialism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect resources toward health care, education, green jobs, and other programs that promote life.”
Faced with the accusations, Rubio showed no sign of feeling addressed and merely pointed with a finger, without turning to look at Leonardo Flores—a gesture that can be interpreted as a request for the man to be removed from the chamber, which was carried out.
After the protester’s words, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch—who had previously celebrated the abduction of President Maduro and Cilia Flores and who had endorsed and praised the US military crimes in Venezuela—said: “Suspended, you know how it is. To jail,” as Leonardo Flores was being forcibly removed from the chamber while continuing to condemn the war crime carried out by the US.
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(Diario VEA) by Yuleidys Hernández Toledo
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
