Tensions Rise As Maduro's Forces Continue To Block Humanitarian Aid From Reaching Venezuela
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - The interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaidó said he will work so that the entry of humanitarian aid into the country can be achieved despite the blockades of Nicolas Maduro's security forces.
"We have been working tirelessly with all sectors that will participate in the delivery of aid," said Guaidó in a video posted on his Instagram account.
"They insist on separating Venezuelans from the medicines and food they need to receive," Guaidó said referring to Maduro and his officials.
Guaidó is holding them responsible for "directly and indirectly murdering" citizens of Venezuela for the last 20 years.
"We will allow this nation to reconquer its rights," he said.
Once again he urged the members of the armed forces to act on behalf of the people.
"The moment is now... soldier of the nation! Are you going to deny help to your family?" Guaidó asked.
On Wednesday, Maduro's forces blocked a bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border denying plans to bring humanitarian aid into the crisis-stricken nation.
Guaidó, last week named the border town of Cucuta as one of three collection points for the delivery of international aid.
Hundreds of thousands in Venezuela remain in desperate need of food and medical supplies.
Maduro, on the other hand, has rejected international aid, saying, "We are not beggars."
The bridge over the border had been blocked by an oil tanker and two large ship containers midway across the three-lane Tienditas Bridge.
Juan Caicedo, a spokesperson from Migration Colombia, Colombia's Ministry of Immigration and Immigration Control, said the Venezuelan military put the blockade into place Tuesday afternoon, adding that there are cameras monitoring activity on the bridge.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also urged Venezuela to open the bridge, tweeting that "the Maduro regime must let the aid reach the starving people."
Maduro on Wednesday hit back at a tweet by US national security adviser John Bolton that said, "any Venezuelan senior military officer that stands for democracy and recognizes the constitutional government of President Juan Guaidó" would not face US sanctions.
"Maduro and his cronies live lavishly in Europe and enrich their Cuban patrons while plundering Venezuela's wealth. Meanwhile, they are physically blocking the Venezuelan people, including the military rank and file, from receiving humanitarian assistance," Bolton said in a tweet.
Speaking during military exercises, Maduro called for the Venezuelan military to remain loyal and ordered the armed forces to defend Venezuelan territory.
"Is John Bolton Venezuela's military chief? Listen well John Bolton, here is the response of the armed forces to your so-called coup-makers. Let's say our slogan loudly, "Loyal Always, Traitors Never" so it can be heard in Washington," he said.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio also tweeted, "These are the lengths #Maduro has gone to prevent food & life-saving medicine from reaching the people of #Venezuela. But the aid is coming anyway & now the military leaders must make a choice. Will they defend their people or defend a dictator."
Meanwhile, USAID has begun packaging pallets of foodstuffs after Bolton's announcement last week that it would send humanitarian aid.
Guaidó called the situation "an emergency ... a crisis," and said humanitarian aid would begin to flow into Venezuela in the coming days, defying Maduro's repeated refusal of assistance in the face of food and medicine shortages.
He outlined the move as part of a plan to push the military into cooperating with the opposition.
"The end of the usurpation will be the end of hunger," Guaidó said, as he called for Venezuelans to reject the Maduro government.
Despite sitting on the largest oil reserves on earth, Venezuela is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Venezuelans are tired of lack of food, medicine, corruption, the exodus of millions, abuse of power, repression, and lack of basic freedoms.
Guaidó, who has been recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela by most of the hemisphere and Europe, embodies the hopes of millions of Venezuelans who have seen their country become another Cuba during the last 20 years under Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Maduro.
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