Venezuela's Guaidó Attends Concert On Eve Of Humanitarian Aid Is To Be Delivered
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/CNN) -- A beaming interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaidó showed up to a benefit concert held in Cucuta, Colombia, where world-renowned artists lent their talents to bring in money to support Guaidós humanitarian aid.
In similar fashion, church-goers held a concert of their own in Doral, mirroring the theme of freedom and unity Friday night at Dios Con Nosotros.
The goal was to help raise $10 million dollars for their native country.
Many of their family members lack food and proper medicines to sustain normal lives.
"My cousin, she grew up with me she had a tumor in her head, and she has to receive medicine on a daily basis. If she doesn't get it she'll die," Pastor Ricardo Alfonso Fernandez Dios Con Nosotros Church.
For weeks, the US agency for international development has been sending aid to neighboring countries.
On Saturday, they'll take a chance and attempt to cross over into Venezuela despite Nicolass Maduro's orders to have military block entrances.
They are hoping to deliver almost 200 tons of relief.
Earlier Friday, Venezuelan soldiers killed at least one person and wounded a dozen others Friday near the Brazilian border in a standoff with civilians over international aid entering the country, according to a local mayor.
"Instead of mediating, the military started shooting," said Emilio Gonzalez, mayor of the municipality of Gran Sabana.
Gonzalez said the victim was a 34-year-old woman, who was part of a group that clashed with the Venezuelan military one day after President Nicolas Maduro shuttered the country's border with Brazil.
Venezuela's Ministry of Defense told CNN it had no information regarding the incident.
Tensions are running high at Venezuela's borders amid opposition plans to usher aid into the country this weekend in defiance of Maduro's wishes.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who invoked a constitutional provision last month to declare himself acting president, has been working with a raft of global partners to bring Venezuelans desperately needed food and medical supplies.
The violence came as dueling concerts kicked off on the country's western border with Colombia, where aid deliveries from the United States have been stuck since Maduro blocked the Tienditas Bridge.
British billionaire Richard Branson is sponsoring a Live Aid-inspired show Friday in Cucuta, Colombia, featuring Latin American stars such as Colombian musical legends Carlos Vives and Juanes and reggaeton singer Maluma. Colombian President Ivan Duque, Chile's Sebastian Piñera and Mario Abdo of Paraguay also joined the crowds.
Dozens of international artists participated Friday in the concert Venezuela Aid Live, in Cúcuta, Colombia, which aims to demand the entry of humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
"I would like to send a message to Maduro," Piñera said. "There is nothing more cruel than a government that closes the entry of food to the people who need it. How can you allow people to suffer only to hold on to a power that is not even yours?"
Maduro is staging a rival concert a few hundred meters away on the Venezuelan side of the bridge in Tachira.
The beleaguered President, who is facing growing calls to step down, denies that a humanitarian crisis exists in his country and suggests that aid efforts are part of a US plot to orchestrate a coup.
Maduro announced in a televised speech Thursday that he was considering shutting the Colombia border, which would seal off most of Venezuela's inland periphery, and warned against trying to bring humanitarian supplies into the country by force.
The Venezuelan government has also closed its maritime border with Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire and, in the western state of Falcon, stopped flights to and from those islands.
Tweeting about the deadly clashes Friday afternoon in Gran Sabana, Guaidó said: "This will not go unpunished.
"Decide which side you are in at this final hour. To all the military: between today and tomorrow you will define how you want to be remembered. We already know that they are with the people, you have made it very clear to us. Tomorrow you can prove it," Guaidó added.
Venezuelan lawmaker Americo de Grazia tweeted a video of those injured at a hospital in Boa Vista, Brazil, and said there was a heavy military presence in the area, including several tanks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged that violence be avoided in Venezuela, according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. "We will obviously keep a very close eye on what happens tomorrow," Dujarric said.
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