Washington DC - Several peace and human rights activists were arrested Wednesday for disrupting a Senate confirmation hearing for Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Marco Rubio.

"Little Marco, keep your hands, keep your grubby hands off the countries that are trying to keep the boot of Israel off their neck," a demonstrator yells as Rubio attempts to testify, as shown in a video shared to social media by the feminist anti-war organization CODEPINK.

"Marco Rubio's sanctions are killing children in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela," another activist yells in Spanish.

A third protester declares, "Health care is a human right! Education is a human right! Sanctions against countries that provide human rights!"

All three activists are seen being forcibly dragged from the room by security.

"The nomination of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State would be disastrous for the sovereignty of Latin America," Luci Murphy, one of the arrested activists, said in a press release. "Rubio has consistently attacked Cuba and Venezuela, championed harsh sanctions, and opposed Colombia's peace process. He has also aligned himself with authoritarian leaders like Argentina's Javier Milei, Peru's Dina Boluarte, and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele."

"His policies will only increase forced migration," she added.

CODEPINK reported that five activists were arrested during the confirmation hearing.

Ahmad el-Masrt, an Egyptian-American member of CODEPINK, said: "I chose to disrupt today because Marco Rubio is not fit to be our top diplomat; he isn't even fit to be a senator. He's a warmongering neocon who would gleefully usher us into another world war."

Jill Clark-Gollub, Nicaraguan-American member of Americas Without Sanctions, noted, "Marco Rubio has caused severe human rights violations with his sanctions on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela."

"His sanctions prevent Cuban children from getting milk and syringes for vaccines; his sanctions deny development aid to combat poverty in Nicaragua. His sanctions have killed more than 40,000 Venezuelans. He is not fit to be Secretary of State! Sanctions Kill!"

Rubio has for years advocated sanctions and other punitive economic measures on Latin American countries and supported an attempted coup in Venezuela. The Florida Republican has been an ardent backer of Israel's genocide in Palestine, in addition to supporting the devastating US wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

"There's lives at stake here! The people of the United States have to know what their government is doing," an arrested protester identified as Adnaan says in separate video on social media.