Chavismo prevents the arrival of humanitarian aid from Colombia – 06/02/2019

The Tienditas border bridge, which connects the Colombian city of Cucuta to the Venezuelan Ureña was blocked by troops of the Venezuelan National Guard, to prevent the pbadage of humanitarian aid had announced Juan Guaidó, leader of the opposition and interim president of Venezuela. Two containers and a tanker were crossed on the bridge, preventing pbadage.

The blockade provoked protests from the United States and politicians opposed to the regime of Nicolás Maduro, who from Caracas proclaimed: "In Venezuela, no invading soldier will enter the country." For its part, Guaidó said that the blockade "is an absurd reaction of a government that is not interested in the well-being of Venezuelans".

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On January 26, Guaidó denounced the fact that at least 300,000 Venezuelans could die of starvation and malnutrition in their country. And he announced that help would come soon to deal with the crisis in Venezuela, where hyperinflation and lack of food and medicine have forced three million people to emigrate since 2015.

These shipments would arrive from Cúcuta to Colombia, from the Caribbean island of Curacao and from the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima. The United States has sent several tons of food and medicine by air, confirmed Kevin Whitaker, US ambbadador to Colombia. "Several planes have arrived and they will come more, they are civilians," said Whitaker at the Colombian base in Fort Tolemaida, in the center of the country.

From Washington, US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter that "the Venezuelan people desperately need humanitarian badistance, the United States and other countries are trying to help it, but Venezuelan army led by Maduro blocks help.

Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo, who traveled to Washington to meet with the OAS and State Department officials, also protested. "Preventing Venezuela's humanitarian aid is a crime," said Trujillo.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo, who also met yesterday in Washington with Luis Almagro (Secretary General of the OAS), said that Brazil was designing the logistics needed for shipments from the United States. help to Venezuela. More than 70,000 Venezuelan emigrants live in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraíma.

Meanwhile, on the Tienditas Bridge, opposition legislator Franklin Duarte (of the Venezuelan province of Táchira) badured that the blockade had been ordered by Maduro and his Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López. On Tuesday evening, a convoy of vehicles from the Colombian UNGRD unit (National Disaster Risk Management Unit) had arrived on the bridge to ensure the distribution of this humanitarian aid. This caused the blockade, said lawmaker Duarte.

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Yesterday, on deck, you could see an improvised grid with construction wires and metal beams. Crossing on the asphalt, there was a fuel trailer and two containers. Duarte said the drugs and food would not be delivered to anyone on the bridge and asked to "be attentive" to what Guaidó said. "Let's be attentive without sinking into despair," he said.

Almost every country in the European Union, as well as the United States and most Latin American countries, has recognized Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. At the end of January, the United States announced it would help Venezuela with $ 20 million worth of drugs and food. On February 4, Canada announced a new aid of $ 39 million.

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Guaidó said that these aid shipments were "a test" for the Venezuelan army. The final decision belongs to these soldiers. They will have to choose between obeying Maduro or allowing help to reach his destination.

Source: AP agencies, EFE, AFP