Gustavo Envela, a four-time Olympic sprinter, was charged with illegally entering and damaging the embassy of Equitorial Guinea in Washington, according to an NBC Washington report.
Court filings showed that U.S. Secret Service arrested Envela, 50, two weeks ago. He left behind a picture supposedly depicting the assassination of the president of Equitorial Guinea.
Envela holds citizenship in Equitorial Guinea and the United States and competed for Equitorial Guinea at the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.
Now Envela is a political activist who has declared himself a candidate to run for president of Equitorial Guinea. According to NBC, in an email he wrote last month, Envela called Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the republic’s president since 1979, a dictator. Envela “pledged” that Mbasogo had celebrated his birthday in the country for the last time.
“I have never, ever threatened to harm anyone,” Envela told NBC. “All of my protests are peaceful.”
The embassy is located on 16th Street in Northwest Washington.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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