New shipment of aid waits for Venezuela

US military planes carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuelans were set to land in the Colombian border city of Cucuta yesterday, where food and medicine is being stored amid uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed. The shipment will be the second arrival of large-scale US aid since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in defiance of socialist president Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido, who invoked constitutional provisions to declare himself the country’s leader last month, arguing Maduro’s 2018 re-election was a sham, said the aid would enter Venezuela yesterday. A US official told Reuters the aid delivered yesterday amounted to more than 200 tonnes. It remains unclear whether Maduro, who has called the aid a US-orchestrated show and denies any crisis, will allow the supplies into Venezuela.