Under the leadership of Juan Guaidó, Venezuelans demonstrate that armed forces do not block humanitarian aid

Led by Juan Guaidó, recognized by some 50 countries as acting president of Venezuela, opponents will march this Tuesday to ask the armed forces not to block US humanitarian aid, considered by the dictator Nicolás Maduro as the door to a military intervention.

"We are returning to the streets to ask for humanitarian aid that will save the lives of more than 300,000 Venezuelans who are now at risk of dying", said Guaidó, chairman of the congress of the opposition majority.

The leader will lead the demonstration east of Caracas, but the marches were convened throughout the country to mark Youth Day for also remember about 40 dead who left the riots and protests against Maduro in January, many of them young.

In return, Maduro will lead a march of young leftists against "imperialist intervention" of Bolívar Square, center of Caracas, where the government is collecting signatures to reject President Donald Trump.

The fight for power between Guaidó and Maduro focuses this week on humanitarian aid. Food and medicine remained in a collection center for five days on the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela.

Two huge containers and a cistern block the Tienditas bridgewhich connects Cúcuta (Colombia) and Ureña (Venezuela). The Venezuelan armed forces have strengthened their presence in the border state of Táchira.

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 the armed forces, government support, Guaidó offered amnesty to soldiers who do not know Maduro and warned them that Preventing the entry of food and medicine is a "crime against humanity".

Maduro, who calls "political broadcast" the arrival of help, denies the existence of a "humanitarian emergency" and attributes the lack of medicines and food for an "economic war" to good and severe US sanctions.

Armed forces are conducting military exercises this week ahead of possible US military action, which has not been ruled out by Trump.

A conference on humanitarian aid, at the request of Guaidó, will take place Thursday at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS)

(With information from AFP)