Venezuela opposition pushes aid while Maduro sends soldiers to border
BOGOTA, Colombia — The Venezuelan opposition on Monday was going ahead with preparations to bring humanitarian aid into the country through Colombia, Brazil and the Caribbean despite opposition from President Nicolas Maduro, whose government boosted its military presence on the border.
Opposition leader Juan Guaido called on Venezuelans to enlist as volunteers to help with the receiving, stocking and distribution of the aid, tweeting that nearly 100,000 people had already done so.
“Organization and mobilizing everyone will be key to make the aid enter and achieve the end of the usurpation [by Mr. Maduro],” Mr. Guaido tweeted.
The opposition leader, who declared himself interim president on Jan. 23 and has won the recognition of a large number of countries, has appealed for aid to help hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who he says are facing acute food and medicine shortages.
Mr. Maduro, who won a May election widely regarded as undemocratic, has presided over hyperinflation and a plunge in oil production. More than 3 million Venezuelans have left the country to escape the economic crisis and political unrest.
About 100 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid are currently waiting in the Colombian border city of Cucuta after Venezuela blocked a key border bridge.
Preparations, meanwhile, were underway to set up a second aid collection center in the Brazilian border state of Roraima, Lester Toledo, a Guaido representative said after meeting Brazilian officials in the country’s capital.
Humberto Calderon, a Guaido-appointed ambassador to Bogota, said the plan was to open aid collection centers in several regions of Colombia, as well as “in Brazil and some Caribbean islands.” Puerto Rico has announced it is sending aid to Venezuela.
Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo stressed Bogota’s “total” commitment to getting the aid to “the Venezuelan brothers.”
The opposition is pinning its hopes on the army turning against Mr. Maduro and letting the aid in.
But Venezuela boosted troops on the Colombian border.
“We have a reinforced presence on the entire frontier, not because of the show of the humanitarian aid,” but because of criminal activity that is coming in from Colombia, broadcaster NTN24 quoted Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino as saying.
Mr. Guaido announced on Twitter that he had already made a first aid delivery in Caracas, handing over 85,000 envelopes of nutritive powder for children and 4,500 supplements for pregnant women to an association of health centers.
The aid did not, however, come from Cucuta, but had been authorized to enter Caracas in December before Mr. Guaido announced he was taking power, according to the daily El Nacional.
Mr. Maduro, who regards the aid as a pretext for a U.S. military intervention, on Sunday made a show of his capacity to keep it out by attending a large-scale military exercise.