Branson gig aiming to raise $100m in aid for Venezuela

TYCOON Richard Branson is organising a concert to raise $100million in food and supplies for crisis-hit Venezuela.

The entrepreneur said he wants the troubled country’s border reopened so humanitarian aid can ‘finally reach those millions who need it’. The benefit gig will be held next Friday in the Colombian city of Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela.

Peter Gabriel is expected to be among the acts, with the performances live-streamed online. Announcing the concert in a video message, Branson, 68, said Venezuela is ‘facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere’.

The Virgin airline boss said he was asked to act by Juan Guaidó, now recognised by more than 50 countries as Venezuela’s interim president. Humanitarian aid has been blocked at the border with Colombia by Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, who fears letting it in would be the first step towards a US invasion. Mr Branson added: ‘We must break this impasse.’