US military aircraft will carry more humanitarian aid to the border with Venezuela

The US government is preparing to send a new cargo of humanitarian aid to Venezuela's border with Colombia. This will be the first time that badistance arrives by military aircraft, according to a leaked email sent by the State Department to the Congress of that country.

US authorities plan to send from Saturday, 250 tons of food products, hygiene items and nutritional supplements in the Colombian city of Cucuta, where other supplies are already stored and waiting to be introduced in Venezuela.

The email sent to Congress on Friday about the new help was sent to The badociated press by a US congressional adviser who was not allowed to publicly discuss the issue.

The United States has decided to send a help at the request of the opposition Juan Guaidó, which the Trump government and several other countries have recognized as the true leader of Venezuela after Maduro was sworn in for a second term in an act considered by some to be illegitimate.

Guaidó, who is also the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, has promised provide badistance to Venezuelans despite the rejection of Maduro, who in an interview Thursday at AP He called American badistance "crumbs".

Although the US armed forces have long supported the humanitarian aid missions run by civilian authorities, this is the first time that they have sent aid directly to Venezuela. Last year, the US government sent a help worth more than 100 million dollars to Cúcuta to support Colombia face the presence of some three million Venezuelans who came to their territory after fleeing food shortages and hyperinflation.

On the same Friday, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Steven Mnuchin said that PDVSA's general chairman, Major General Manuel Quevedo, was an instrument to consolidate what he called the "illegitimate Maduro regime".

In the interview with AP, Maduro said Quevedo was in India this week to discuss PDVSA's new activities, after the company was targeted by sanctions aimed at reducing its profits, estimated at about $ 11,000 million.

The new US Treasury sanctions have also been to the attention of four senior officials of the Bolivian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and the Director of the Special Action Force (FAES) of the Venezuelan National Police.

Mnuchin said in a statement that he was corrupt officials who help Maduro attack democracy in Venezuela by means that include the use of torture and brutal force.

The sanctions prevent these officials from having access to all their badets in the United States and prevent American citizens from doing business with them.

From Reykjavik, Iceland, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo told reporters that Maduro realized that the citizens of his country did not want him.

By Joshua Goodman and Scott Smith for Associated Press