Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Aid caravans in works for Venezuela
Protesters and thousands of volunteers will organize relief caravans that will enter Venezuela on Feb. 23, National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said Tuesday, making a promise that will set a direct confrontation with President Nicolas Maduro’s authoritarian regime.
“The armed forces will have a few days to decide whether to stand by the constitution and allow the entry of humanitarian aid,” Guaido told thousands of opposition marchers Tuesday. “Enough of hunger, of misery, of usurpation of power.”
Guaido, who says he’s the rightful leader of Venezuela after Maduro’s election was widely disputed, has made a political tool of emergency shipments of food stalled in the Colombian border town of Cucuta. Traditional aid groups have shunned the effort as a ploy, but Guaido is counting on the U.S.-backed initiative to persuade his country’s military to recognize him and to create an opening for desperately needed relief.
It’s been unclear if the trailers of rice, flour and other staples would actually be able to enter the country. Guaido’s supporters had spoken of using clandestine means, even hauling it in by sea.
While Venezuela faces deep shortages of necessities like antibiotics, first-aid supplies and baby formula, Maduro has portrayed the shipments as a pretext for an invasion, sent to humiliate him and undermine his presidency. About 40 miles from Puerto Santander, where the donations are stockpiled, his security forces are using shipping containers and a tractor-trailer to close off an international bridge.