MIAMI LAKES, Fla. — A 23-year-old woman from Miami Lakes has been arrested and charged for her participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Reporting from USA Today said Barbara Balmaseda was formerly the Director at Large for the Miami Young Republicans and had previously been an intern for Sen. Marco Rubio.
A statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. said that Balmaseda had messaged colleagues expressing the false belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen and the knowledge of the Jan. 6 process of certifying the results in Congress.
Balmaseda was photographed on Jan. 6, 2020, with Gabriel Garcia, a member of the Proud Boys who has since been convicted for his own involvement in the assault. The U.S. Attorney's Office said she and Garcia, who were near the front of the mob, climbed over pieces of Inauguration equipment toward the Capitol's Upper West Terrace, and came in through the Senate Wing door.
Once inside, security footage reportedly caught Balmaseda pushing her way to the front of the rioters and breaking through two police lines. Ultimately, she went to the Rotunda, took photographs, and stood by while a group of rioters were trying to push through another police line nearby.
Balmaseda was arrested on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. In addition to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding, she also faces misdemeanor charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
More than 1,230 people have been charged for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Florida leads the nation in the number of arrests related to the attack by far with at least 95, according to the Justice Department's online tracker, earning the state the nickname: "the cradle of the insurrection."
