Venezuela: Crisis worsens and smuggling of food and naphtha continues

American humanitarian aid stays in a cellar in Cucuta, Colombia, right on the border of Venezuela, a country hit by the crisis. According to the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Madurothe supplies are part of a conspiracy prepared by Washington to weaken its government.

Juan Guaidó, Venezuelan opposition leader whose self-proclamation as interim president has been recognized by more than 30 countries, said the products will enter Venezuela on February 23. We do not know how, since Maduro still controls the Venezuelan army.

While aid remains unresolved, thousands of Venezuelans they cross the border every day in search of food and medicine. They often meet smugglers who take advantage of extreme price distortions in Venezuela, Maduro, to sell high-margin products in Colombia.

Maduro rejects the humanitarian aid of the world but receives that of Russia

The photographer Bloomberg News, Iván Valencia, spent a week near the Colombian border towns of Cúcuta and Puerto Santander and witnessed the desperation caused by Venezuela's economic implosion.

1. In the border town of Cúcuta, Colombia, the volunteers of the Divina Providencia transit house prepare more than 4,000 lunches a day to feed Venezuelans. Here, a nun holds a daughter in Divine Providence on February 4th.
2. Colombian police inspecting a vehicle carrying petrol cans near Cucuta. Venezuelan Government Officials and Ordinary Citizens They are pbading food and gasoline in Colombia sell with a large profit margin. This trade has existed for years on the black market and continues even when Venezuela is about to enter the famine.
3. Colombian civil defense officials fill boxes with US humanitarian aid. in a warehouse near the Tienditas International Bridge on February 8th.
4. Venezuelans transport supplies they bought in Colombia and cross the Simón Bolívar International Bridge, which also crosses the Táchira River, to return home.
5. Motorcyclists carry contraband fuel near the border with Venezuela via a road outside the port of Santander, Colombia.
6. Mothers and children line up at the Divina Providencia in Cucuta on 11 February.
7. A volunteer categorizes American aid packages. in a warehouse in Cucuta. "The attitude of Maduro and his friends is horrible because to forbid access to humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity"Colombian President Ivan Duque said during a trip to Washington.
8. Volunteer distributes tickets to enter Divine Providence Gateway House on February 11th. In 2017, a local priest, José David Cana, launched the project to help Venezuelans fleeing the crisis in their country.
9. Colombian police patrol a smuggling road near the border with Venezuela.
10. Venezuelans are waiting for the attention of doctors in a Colombian Red Cross in Cucuta.
11. At dawn, Venezuelans cross the Simon Bolivar International Bridge to buy goods in Colombia.
12. Police patrol in Cucuta, the largest border town in Colombia.
13. A Venezuelan boy is carrying his son near the Simón Bolívar International Bridge in the town of Los Patios, on the outskirts of Cúcuta. Many Venezuelans bring large backpacks and luggage to Colombia and fill them with supplies to take home.
14. The contraband fuel travels through a river in wooden boats in Puerto Santander.
15. Informal vendors sell medicine to Venezuelans crossing Simón Bolívar international bridge to buy items that are no longer available in your own country.
16. The smuggled fuel seized from Venezuela in a police truck on a smuggling road near Cucuta.
17. Protesters hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Cúcuta on February 12.
18. The people they are lining up to eat in the house of not Divine Providence.
19. A police officer was patrolling a smuggling road used to bring Venezuelan food and fuel to Colombia and resell them with a profit margin of 1,000 percent or more.