US$100mil in humanitarian aid pledged to crisis-hit Venezuela

CaraCas:

Twenty-five countries have pledged US$ 100mil (RM407mil) in aid to Venezuela, a top US official said, as the crisis-hit country’s Supreme Court took aim at oil executives appointed by the opposition.

Venezuela is plagued by hyperinflation and major shortages of basic goods, and two men – opposition leader Juan Guaido and President Nicolas Maduro – are vying for control of the country.

The United States is among more than 50 countries that have recognised Guaido as interim president, but Maduro – backed by the country’s military as well as Russia, China and dozens of other states – has so far refused to relinquish his office.

US national security adviser John Bolton made the announcement on the aid pledged to Venezuela following an Organization of American States conference on assisting the country.

“Today, 25 countries, united at the OAS- hosted Conference on Humanitarian Assistance in Support of Venezuela pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance,” Bolton tweeted.

According to David Smolanksy, coordinator of an OAS working group on migration and refugees from Venezuela, the money will go directly to aid collection centres set up on the borders with Colombia and Brazil and on the Caribbean island of Curacao.

At the opening of the conference in Washington, Guaido’s representative in the United States, Carlos Vecchio, said the priority is to get aid into Venezuela on Feb 23 – a month after Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s interim president.

Guaido and Maduro have been locked in a battle over allowing aid into the country, and the military reinforced a blockade on Thursday at the border with Colombia, where the opposition leader has vowed to bring in desperately-needed goods.

Journalists saw several new freight containers blocking the road that connects the town of Urena in Venezuela to Cucuta in Colombia, where tonnes of US aid has been piling up for a week.

Venezuela is enduring the biggest economic crisis in its modern history, with hyperinflation predicted to hit 10 million percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.