On the day, the trucks could not enter | The in …

From Ureña, Táchira

On February 23, the day of the announced entry of humanitarian aid to Venezuela arrived and ended. The apocalyptic predictions did not take place, Nicolás Maduro did not fall, Juan Guaidó remained in Cúcuta, the country did not enter a cinematic confrontation. High tension? Many, especially in the border region that separates the two countries by three bridges over an almost dry river: Simón Bolívar, Tienditas and Santander. From one side, Táchira, the cities of San Antonio and Ureña, on the other north of Santander, with the city of Cúcuta.

The day started early with what was expected, a frontal pressure with media strength on the bridges. The shares had moments of euphoria, for example because of the fact that a handful of members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) decided to join the ranks of Trump-Rubio-Duque-Guaidó. The euphoria fell and over the hours, it was formed the certainty that neither people nor trucks would pbad to the other side.

This situation has resulted in two central elements. On the one hand, the deployment of a permanent clash on the bridges of Bolívar and Santander, to which is added an attempt to occupy the airport of San Antonio that was disabled, and on the other hand the use of trucks with humanitarian aid.

The confrontation recalled the violent street strategies deployed in 2014 and 2017 by the right in several cities of the country, called guarimbas. Unlike being concentrated in international bridges and having the explicit support of the security organs of the Colombian state. The cycle has been repeated: towards the Venezuelan side, step back, try to go under the bridge in the case of Simón Bolívar. What should a government do in the face of an international-funded attempt to invade Guarimbera?

The use of trucks had three central moments. The first was to show caravans on the way to the bridges and to medically exploit the images, the second to lie by claiming that they had entered Venezuela – as the Venezuelan singer Nacho did when the day was over – and the third to generate a false positive, as well as the incineration of two gandolas. The matrix had to blame the GNB, when it was filmed how young they were front-line confrontation.

The fire of the gandolas seems to have been planned and resulted in Nicolás Maduro's accusation of having committed a crime against humanity, escalating international threats, such as the one that Also expressed the US Senator Marco Rubio, who said Venezuela had fired in Colombian territory, and that the United States would defend Colombia in case of aggression.

The truth is that apart from these episodes, what they had announced did not happen. Humanitarian aid did not enter Venezuela at any time, neither by Colombia, nor by Brazil nor by sea. The Bolivarian National Armed Force was not broken. The bridges resembled the already known images of the violent strategy of the right, now in a more complex framework. If it was the last day, it was not the case, but it does not seem to have been in the announced dimension. Once again, the disillusionment of the social base of the opposition was generated, confronted with the distance that separated the promises of its leaders – who are now international – and the real correlations of force.

Chavismo, for his part, mobilized in Caracas, it was his fifth consecutive mobilization in five days. In this context, the government announced that the severance of relations with the Colombian government was a central measure, in addition to the decisions taken the previous days to close the borders with Brazil, Colombia and the Aruba Islands, Bonaire and Curacao.

The result at the end of the 23rd was a great offensive that was meant to be final and did not achieve its objectives, and a Venezuelan government that stood up against the attack that, as we know, struck simultaneously. several flanks: army, media, psychological, diplomatic, territorial. This final balance was the one expected based on real strengths – without the inflated effect of social networks – and without the appearance of a new letter from Elliot Abrams, Iván Duque or Marco Rubio.

Another balance is the number of false news, rumors, unverified data, without credible sources. This is part of the avalanche, the daze, the justification of new possible actions. The case of fire trucks was the clearest of 23. The difficulty often lies in the confirmation of sources, figures, the veracity of the facts, which is generally swept away by the logic of the war which has for main communication operation. No one can be surprised by an American lie during an badault, the right to innocence is forbidden, the need for suspicion is permanent.

What will happen on the 24th or the 25th? It is too early to know, it seems, according to the way events have unfolded, that pressure will continue to be exerted on bridges with no real capacity to enter Venezuela, that threats and meetings Internationals will increase, and that it may be acting out a false positive of great magnitude. I announced Rubio on the night of the 22nd to 23rd when he raised the possibility that the Colombian National Liberation Army is killing civilians. He announced what they seem to want to do themselves, how to disguise it and, from there, justify new actions and move from the form of "humanitarian aid" to a new regime.

The border ends in a tense night, as if something could happen at any moment. We are in complex hours and days, where one of the central objectives of the Venezuelan government, Chavismo, is to prevent traps, images, images of violence, the violence itself, which has left 42 wounded from 23 to Venezuelan side. An idea of ​​the social climate on Saturday night is given by the trend of Twitter, where five of the most well-placed brands require international intervention. The certainty that they will not be able to overthrow Nicolás Maduro, democratically elected on his own, seems to constitute the majority.