A tense political crisis in Venezuela threatened to boil over Saturday as the opposition party, led by self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó, vowed to bring 280 tons of humanitarian aid into the country, even if it meant forcibly breaking a blockade ordered by President Nicolás Maduro.
The delivery of $60 million worth of aid — donated by the United States and other countries — into Venezuela has become a central point in the standoff between Maduro and Guaidó. Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and placed national guard troops at the country’s borders to keep the donated food, medical supplies and other emergency assistance out.
The Venezuelan people are not “beggars,” Maduro said earlier this month.
Despite this, Guaidó said Saturday a first shipment of humanitarian aid had already entered Venezuela from its southern border with Brazil.
Venezuelans cheer as they surround the first truck with humanitarian aid from the Brazilian government that has arrived in Pacaraima, Roraima state, Brazil, on the border with Venezuela, Feb. 23, 2019. (Ivan Valencia/AP)
A separate convoy of 14 trucks full of aid has been waiting in Cúcuta, a city in Colombia just across from Venezuela’s western border.
On Saturday morning, Guaidó appeared on the Colombian side of the Tienditas International Bridge, which connects Venezuela and Colombia, and reassured the crowds that humanitarian aid was “on its way.” He appeared with the presidents of Paraguay, Colombia and Chile, as well as the secretary general of the Organization of American States.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gives the thumbs-up to supporters from the side of a truck in Cucuta on the Colombian side of the Tienditas International Bridge before the attempt to cross humanitarian aid over the border into Venezuela. (Guillermo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images)
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is flanked, from left, by Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro, Presidents Mario Abdo Benitez of Paraguay, Ivan Duque of Colombia and Sebastian Pinera of Chile as he speaks at the Tienditas International Bridge. (Guillermo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images)
Guaidó declared on Twitter that “the day has arrived” in which they would bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela, urging opposition supporters to take to the streets.
“From our borders, by land and sea, we will bring hope, food and medicines for the ones who need it the most,” Guaidó tweeted. “We call everyone to go out massively to the streets in the whole country, to protest in peace at barracks, to urge the armed forces to let humanitarian aid in.”
Venezuelans gather at the Tienditas bridge in Cucuta, Colombia. (Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
The day before, Guaidó had defied a travel ban and left Venezuela, crossing into Colombia to make a surprise appearance in the city of Cúcuta, where supplies are being stockpiled.
At other border points around the country, the situation intensified.
Venezuelan national police stand guard at the Simon Bolivar international bridge, as seen from Cucuta, Colombia. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)
At the Simón Bolívar international bridge, on Venezuela’s western border with Colombia, four members of the Venezuela National Guard abandoned their posts early Saturday morning. One Venezuelan soldier was overcome with emotion, bursting into tears as he crossed into Colombia to join the opposition party.
“They have decided to stand on the side of the people and the Constitution!” Guaidó tweeted. “Welcome! The advent of freedom and democracy to Venezuela is already unstoppable.”
In subsequent tweets, Guaidó assured those Venezuelan soldiers who crossed the border to help the opposition party that they would not be labeled traitors, but instead were “true patriots.”
In Ureña, Venezuela, another border town further north, clashes became violent as the National Guard fired tear gas into crowds of residents who had been trying to clear a blockaded border bridge.
Demonstrators clash with Venezuela’s security forces in Urena, Venezuela. (Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)
A group of opposition supporters stormed a school and chased out pro-government supporters who were holed up there overnight. The opposition shouted “traitors!” at the fleeing loyalists. Images from Ureña included several of a bus that had been set afire in the turmoil.
Opposition demonstrators gesture toward security forces in Urena, Venezuela. (Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)
A bus that was torched during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard burns in Urena, Venezuela, near the border with Colombia. (Fernando Llano/AP)
On Friday, two civilians were killed and 11 wounded after the Venezuelan military opened fire on protesters near the Brazilian border.
Dylan Baddour, Anthony Faiola, Mariana Zuñiga and Maite Fernandez contributed to this report.
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