Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade.
Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro has vowed not to allow in the aid, which he’s dismissed as a show and pretext for a US invasion.
Humanitarian aid has become the centerpiece of the stand-off between Maduro and Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly who declared himself interim president exactly one month ago Saturday. Guaido has accused Maduro of rigging his re-election and is demanding a new vote.
Venezuela is gripped by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar during years of recession.
As many as 300,000 Venezuelans are in dire need of food and medicine after years of shortages and malnutrition, according to Guaido.
United Nations figures show that some 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 amid the crisis, and some 5,000 Venezuelans emigrate from their country each day.
On the eve of the face-off Guaido defied a government ban on leaving the country and attended the “Venezuela Live Aid” concert organized by British billionaire Richard Branson just over the border in Colombia. The concert is aimed at raising funds to help the relief effort.
Guaido sensationally claimed that the Venezuelan military, whose high command has repeatedly declared absolute loyalty to Maduro, “participated in this process” to get him into Colombia.
Hours later, Caracas said it had closed much of the Colombian border, citing threats to Venezuela’s security.
Guaido said that aid would come in on Saturday regardless of any military blockade.
His supporters plan to drive the aid from Colombia into Venezuela at the closed border crossings supported by a flood of volunteers and accompanied by Catholic priests in an attempt to avoid arrest.
Colombia and Venezuela share a 2,200 kilometer (1,370 mile) long border, and trucks carrying aid could also drive across some of the countless illegal dirt roads that link the two countries across the porous border.