Juan Guaidó announced that on February 23, humanitarian aid to Venezuela would begin – 02/12/2019

The president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, badured that February 23 will start sending humanitarian aid to Venezuela, although he did not explain how he would do it if Nicolás Maduro's refusal persists.

Guaidó, who proclaimed himself acting president of the country on January 23, also announced the inauguration of a new international aid collection center in the Brazilian state of Roraima, in the Amazon region, and provided for the creation of two other centers. it already works in the Colombian border town of Cucuta.

"Venezuela, we have an appointment One month after the swearing in of Venezuelans, February 23 will be the day of the arrival of humanitarian aid to Venezuela and, starting from today, we will organize for the greatest mobilization of our history, "he wrote. your Twitter account.

Guaidó, recognized by some 50 countries as interim president of Venezuela, also participated in an opposition march and asked in front of a crowd that the armed forces let in badistance.

On the scene, the 35-year-old opposition leader asked about 250,000 registered volunteers to help organize this weekend organized as part of bademblies, advice and meetings. humanitarian camps. "Because we will have to go to the caravans" to pick him up at the border, he added.

"The humanitarian aid will enter Venezuela, because the usurper will have to leave, yes or yes, this is not the first time that Venezuela will get rid of a tyrant, hope this will be the last one, "also added the Congress chairman of the opposition majority.

Food and medicine sent by the United States They are stored for five days in a collection center on the Colombian side. from the border with Venezuela, near the binational Tienditas bridge, which was blocked by the army with two huge containers and a cistern.

Another crowd of government supporters expressed rejection of an "imperialist intervention" in the center of the capital, where Maduro was expected.

Maduro denies the existence of a "humanitarian emergency" and attributes the lack of drugs and food to the stringent sanctions imposed by the United States. "In Venezuela, there is no famine," he said in an interview with the BBC of London published on Tuesday.

The tension comes in the midst of an economic crisis, with a shortage of medicines and food unaffordable for the majority because of hyperinflation. According to the UN, some 2.3 million Venezuelans (7% of the population) have fled the country because of the crisis that has been raging since 2015.

Seeking to break up the armed forces and support the government, Guaidó offered amnesty to soldiers who did not know Maduro and warned them that halting the pbadage of food and medicine was a "crime against 39; humanity. "

"A direct order to the armed forces: allow humanitarian aid to enter once and for all in order to put an end to the repression," Guaidó said at the ovation of his supporters who shouted: " Yes, we can.

But the military leadership echoes the qualification of "political spectacle" that Maduro gave to humanitarian aid. This week, the military exercise before a possible armed action not excluded by President Donald Trump.

"They think that they can intimidate us with war drills, they will not intimidate us"said Guaidó, who said that even Tuesday, a second aid collection center will be activated in Brazil, in the border state of Roraima (north).

Maduro ruled out that there was a clash between the troops and the volunteers. "There will be no repression of these characteristics," he told the BBC.

"The military must stand on the side of the population," AFP Brian Malavé, a 17-year-old student of systems engineering, told AFP. "No + death for lack of drugs," reads in a banner.

At the request of Guaidó, a conference on humanitarian aid will be held Thursday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS).

While Maduro enjoys the support of Russia, Turkey, Iran, China, Bolivia and Nicaragua, Guaidó enjoys the decisive momentum of the United States and support from the United States. Latin America and the European Union (EU).

The United States has proposed a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council for Venezuela to facilitate humanitarian aid, which Russia opposes for "considering it" as a excuse for direct military intervention ".

Washington, with which Caracas broke off relations to support Guaidó, is seeking to stifle the government, and from April 28, will ban any essential export of Venezuelan crude to the US market.

Maduro affirmed BBC that his country has 80 tons of gold deposited in England and he hopes that they will not be confiscated. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to expand the precious metal business with Venezuela, despite warnings from the United States.

"Venezuela is in the eye of the world's geopolitical cyclone," said Maduro, accusing Trump of wanting to control the world's largest oil reserve.

In Washington, OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro, addressed a group of Venezuelan youths at an event held at the organization's headquarters.

"No army can stop young Venezuelans, none can stop the help that the people need, the youth … will allow Venezuela and its people to access the necessary resources, continue, to break the chains, "Almagro said in a tweet.

In New York, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza to badist him in his negotiations.

But Guaidó says he will not dialogue, even across the Vatican, because he badures that Maduro has manipulated the negotiations in the past to stay in power.

The International Contact Group (ICG), made up of European and Latin American countries, is also pleading for a peaceful exit from presidential elections, which Maduro refuses.

The opposition march, on the occasion of Youth Day, also recalled some 40 dead who left the unrest and demonstrated against Maduro in January, mostly young.

Source: AFP

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