Guaido leads caravan to Venezuela border
CARACAS: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido made plans to head for the border with Colombia to personally bring in US- supplied food and medicine in defiance of the military- backed government, raising fears of possible weekend confrontations.
Guaido, who has set a Saturday deadline for bringing in the aid, planned to depart at 6am yesterday in a caravan of buses with members of the oppositioncontrolled National Assembly, forcing a high- stakes showdown with President Nicolas Maduro.
On Maduro’s orders, the military has beefed up border security and barricaded a major border bridge to prevent the supplies from entering the country from Cucuta, Colombia, where tons of supplies are stockpiled.
Although it was unclear exactly what Guaido intends to do, he says he has enlisted hundreds of thousands of volunteers in recent days to help bring in and distribute the aid.
On Wednesday, he rallied bus drivers to go to the borders to collect aid for Venezuelans suffering shortages.
“Even though they point guns at us – and all of us have received threats, rubber bullets and even live ones – we are not afraid,” Guaido said, standing on the back of a truck in a throng of supporters.
“We will stay out in the street with our chests bared, demanding freedom for all of Venezuela.”
Shipments of food and medicine for the crisis-stricken population have become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.
The 35-year- old leader of the Venezuelan legislature proclaimed himself acting president January 23, and has since won the backing of more than 50 countries.
He wants to oust Maduro, set up a transitional government and hold new elections.
“This could be very soon, between six and nine months,
Even though they point guns at us – and all of us have received threats, rubber bullets and even live ones – we are not afraid. Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader
once Maduro’s current usurpation ends,” Guaido told Mexican television station Televisa.
Guaido, who says 300,000 people could die without an influx of aid, says he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing it in by Saturday.
Addressing supporters he listed the planned transit points of entry at the Brazilian and Colombian borders, the island of Curacao and the seaports of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira.
However the pro-Maduro military has already blocked the Tienditas bridge across the Colombian border, and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez confirmed the government was shutting down air and sea links between Curacao and Venezuela.
The military said in a decree that it was banning vessels from sailing out of Venezuela’s ports until Sunday to avoid actions by ‘criminal’ groups.
Amnesty International’s Americas director Erika Guevara urged authorities to ‘ not only recognise this serious crisis... but also to guarantee access’ for those bringing in aid.
Underlining the swell of international support for Guaido, British entrepreneur Richard Branson plans to hold a pro- aid concert just inside Colombia today, while Maduro’s government stages a rival concert on its side of the border, around 300 metres away.
US officials say the aid will reach thousands of Venezuelans and last for a few weeks.
Further details of how the opposition aims to distribute it were scarce.
Despite sitting on the world’s biggest oil reserves, Venezuela is gripped by an economic and humanitarian crisis, with acute shortages of food and medicine. — AFP