A group of Venezuelan doctors demonstrated on the Colombian side of the border on Sunday (February 10) as they demanded President Nicolas Maduro’s government allow humanitarian aid into their country.

Amid a hyperinflationary economic collapse that has caused malnutrition and the exodus of millions of people, humanitarian aid has become a flashpoint in an intensifying political crisis.

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido said last week a global coalition that includes the United States was sending food and medicine to collection points in Colombia, Brazil and an undisclosed Caribbean island before delivering the aid into Venezuela.

But Maduro denies there is even a crisis, saying it is part of a U.S.-directed plot to undermine and overthrow his government and has said his government will not let the aid in.

Venezuela’s opposition has so far only publicly announced the arrival of aid in the Colombian border town of Cucuta, where it is now being stockpiled as Venezuelan authorities have made it clear they will not allow it to enter the country.

Doctors at the demonstration said the food and medicine from the aid could be immediately used to befit their patients. — Reuters

Tags: Juan Guaido, United States, Venezuela

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido and opposition lawmakers on Tuesday (February 05) called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into country, as the OPEC nation grapples with shortages of food and medicine.

Guaido’s statements come after the United States has sent food and medicine toward Colombia’s border with Venezuela, although it is still unclear how the aid will get past the objections of President Nicolas Maduro, who has blocked shipments in the past.

U.S. officials said trucks carrying the aid, including high-protein foods, would arrive in Cucuta this week at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself to be the South American nation’s interim president.

But Maduro has spoken out against aid coming into Venezuela.

Pressure is growing on President Nicolas Maduro to step down after more than a dozen European Union nations, including Britain, Germany and France, joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognising opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

As of late last year, Venezuela is suffering from a roughly 85 percent shortage of medicines, decrepit hospital infrastructure, and an exodus of doctors during a brutal recession. — Reuters

Tags: Juan Guaido, Nicolas Maduro, OPEC, Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaido, said in an interview broadcast on Telemundo on Monday (January 28) that the choice between the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a foreign military intervention was a “difficult dilemma” and that Venezuelans “don’t want one or the other.”

Guaido also called on members of Venezuela’s armed forces to not “fire on peaceful marches, much less repress young people that are fighting for their freedom and that of their families.”

Guaido, supported by the United States and most countries in the Western Hemisphere, says Maduro stole his re-election and must resign to allow new, fair polls.

Maduro has promised to stay in office, backed by Russia and China, which have bank rolled his government and fought off efforts to have his government disavowed by the United Nations. — Reuters

Tags: Juan Guaido, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela