U.S. military sends aid near Venezuela

The United States military began flying humanitarian aid to a Colombian city close to the Venezuelan border on Saturday in an effort to turbocharge a relief plan that has become a cornerstone of the quest to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

Military personnel used C17 cargo planes to transport thousands of nutritional supplements and hygiene kits from a base near Miami to Cúcuta, the main staging ground for hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Venezuelan opposition leaders and their international backers hope to get across the border.

Mr. Maduro, who has accused the United States of weaponizing aid, has blocked the main roads that connect the two nations near Cúcuta and put his armed forces on high alert to counter what he called “conspiracies and provocations.”

The United States military has concluded that more than 1,000 Cuban military and intelligence advisers, working with the Russian government, have been instrumental in keeping the top echelons of the Venezuelan military loyal to Mr. Maduro, Admiral Craig S. Faller said.

While rank-and-file members of the Venezuelan military have endured the hunger and privations that much of the population faces amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, the country’s large corps of generals and other high-ranking officers has so far refused to back a plan to oust Mr. Maduro and help opposition leaders convene a new election.