Travel aboard the seventh plane of humanitarian aid sent by the United States to Venezuela

This one Hercules C-130 contains such a load that it leaves little room for walking and the 20 people on board, including the crew, travel full of people. On the ground there seven wooden bases with hundreds of cardboard boxes closed with clear plastic that extends from one wall to the other of the plane. They contain, among other things, latex gloves, surgical gowns, masks and products for the disinfection of hospitals.

He's calling Specifications and it is a US Air Force plane that will burst. It takes nearly six tons of medical equipment for Venezuela, but it is possible that they never enter the South American nation.

These donations from the US government sent Thursday accumulate with some 365 metric tons of non-perishable goods, medicines, hygiene products and other humanitarian badistance products in two hangars of the collection center of Las Tienditas, in the border town of Colombia, Cúcuta, from where you can see the green mountains of Venezuela on the other side of the river Táchira.

It is about seventh military flight of humanitarian aid to Venezuelaand second since an unsuccessful attempt to cross the border with trucks on 23 February. Despite this, the governments of Colombia, Venezuela and the United States continue to accumulate aid in the hangars in the hope of being able to enter soon.

"We will continue to send humanitarian aid for those suffering in Venezuelasaid Bonnie Glick, deputy administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, one of the few officials who traveled Specifications leave the supplies in Colombia.

Glick, whose agency is known as USAID in English, did not explain in detail how aid on the Colombian border would be introduced into the South American nation. He said that there will be more flights next weekbut did not specify if there were others planned for later.

The aid is sent at a time when Washington continues to increase the pressure against Nicolás Maduro's regime, which he considers an illegitimate president.

The February 23 attempt to draw media attention to the provision of aid was met with resistance from the Venezuelan National Guard and the National Police, who clashed protesters on the borders with Colombia and Brazil. At least 300 people were injured and three died.

US aid aims to mitigate the effects of a deep economic crisis that has resulted in shortages of food and medicine in Venezuela.

Specifications, That's that it's able to carry a tank and could participate in war operations, was chosen to carry medical supplies to Colombia this Thursday. The boxes bearing the inscription "Medline Industries" in blue letters occupy almost all of their 30 meters long and 4.5 meters wide.

This aircraft departed early from the Homestead Air Reserve Base, approximately 55 kilometers southwest of Miami, and after approximately four and a half hours of flying at approximately 8,200 meters, arrived at Camilo Daza International Airport in Cucutaabout 550 kilometers northeast of Bogotá.

Eight young members of the military crew, about five US officials and seven journalists accompanied the cargo sitting on red canvas benches located against the only aircraft walls that were not occupied by the boxes located at the front of the plane.

The captain, Brad Breelove, a 32-year-old pilot who rides that he knows little about Venezuela and does not speak Spanish, climbed on a narrow metal ladder.

Breelove, who was born in Arizona and lives in Texas, returned from Operation Resolute in Afghanistan in January. Although he traveled to Honduras and Guantanamo, Thursday was his first trip to Venezuela and South America, as well as his first humanitarian aid flight.

"We are extremely happy to be here and to help a humanitarian flight to South America to help those who need it the most," he said. he declared with a smile before taking off. "Of all the military missions, it is the most important and the one that satisfies the most"He said standing in front of the huge dark gray four-jet aircraft with the American flag drawn on his tail.

For nearly 50 years, the United States has been using the Hercules C-130 aircraft model for missions around the world, including Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Iraq, where they have transported military equipment, food and medicine, and have even been used as planes. of fight.

Like the crew, Specifications – manufactured in 2014 – is based at a US military base in Texas. To make this trip to Cucuta, all members of the crew traveled in advance to spend a night in Florida and returned to Texas on Tuesday.

Before leaving, the cargo was introduced by the tail of the aircraft with the help of small cranes that carried it slowly, guided by a handful of young soldiers stationed on the airstrip. Above the plane, another young man wearing a green camouflage uniform said the supports, called pallets, were fitted on the ground rails, which allowed him to slide easily.

Upon their arrival in Cúcuta, Colombian and Venezuelan officials waited for the plane and met Bonnie Glick of USAID. Among them were Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan opposition MP, and Victor Bautista, Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs border director.

Three huge trucks transported the cargo a distance of six kilometers to the collection center after a pair of cranes descended from the plane and set it on the side of the runway of the airport.

In Las Tienditas, hundreds of bags and boxes with labels stating "donations" and "USAID – The People of the United States of America" ​​were placed on shelves and pallets on the floor.

For the Venezuelan opposition, the arrival of American humanitarian aid represents a "very clear" message for the world and for its population.

"There is hope here," said deputy Olivares, Guaidó's representative at the collection center. "We will not make the same mistake (like February 23) to reveal how, but this aid is coming into the country," he said.

About three hours after arriving on Colombian soil, the Spec-Tacle took off from an empty course in Florida.

(With information from AP / Gisela Salomón)