Venezuelan troops have barricaded a bridge on the country’s western border with Colombia in an apparent attempt to prevent the entry of humanitarian aid sent by opposition leaders trying to force Nicolás Maduro from power.
On Wednesday at lunchtime, a fuel tanker and two shipping containers blocked the Tienditas international bridge, which connects the two countries and has become a staging ground for the planned relief effort. Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian national guard could also be seen at the bridge.
A convoy carrying the aid, which was donated by the US, left Bogotá at 11am on Wednesday and was making its way along winding mountain rounds to Cúcuta, a Colombian government official said. The earliest it will reach the border is Thursday morning.
Maduro has repeatedly denied his economically devastated country is facing a humanitarian crisis, apparently fearing such an acceptance could be used to justify foreign military intervention. “We are not beggars,” he said in a speech to troops this week.
Why is Venezuela in crisis? – video explainerThe attempt by his political rival, Juan Guaidó, to push aid in through Venezuela’s borders with Colombia and Brazil represents the latest attempt to weaken Maduro’s embattled regime by forcing members of the military to disobey his orders and allow the aid to pass.
“The main goal now is to look to break the military – and the humanitarian aid is basically the Trojan horse to try to do that,” said Maryhen Jiménez Morales, an Oxford University specialist in Venezuelan politics.
Guaidó urged Venezuela’s border troops not to stand in the way of humanitarian aid that was intended to help “your family, your sister, your mum, your wife – who surely need these supplies”.
Juan Andrés Mejía, a lawmaker from Guaidó’s party, Voluntad Popular (People’s Will), told the Guardian that trying to deliver aid across Venezuela’s borders was a double challenge to Maduro’s regime – as well as an effort to alleviate a humanitarian crisis that has seen millions of Venezuelans flee abroad.
“The government has a dilemma … Either they let it in [and look weak] or they refuse it, which I don’t think they will because they are not so stupid, and they will also lose. So it is a win-win situation for us – and for the people.”
Mejía denied that the opposition hoped to provoke a military incident which some fear could be used to justify international intervention to unseat Maduro. “That’s not our goal. That is not what we are looking for. Basically, the strategy … is to show people that humanitarian aid is real, [that] it is not only a discourse … and it is close and it can be here soon.”
Mejía added: “We are a non-violent movement. We do not have weapons and we do not want to have them. We are absolutely certain that violence benefits the government and we cannot win a violent struggle against the government.”
The United Nations warned against using aid as a political tool. “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or other objectives,” said a spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric. “When we see the present standoff it becomes even more clear that serious political negotiations between the parties are necessary to find a solution leading to lasting peace for the people of Venezuela.”
A congressman from Cúcuta, Juan Capacho, told the Guardian the blockade was a “tyrannical irresponsibility that we will get over”, and that the aid would “help give Venezuela liberty”.
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, tweeted: “The Venezuelan people desperately need humanitarian aid. The U.S. & other countries are trying to help, but #Venezuela’s military under Maduro’s orders is blocking aid with trucks and shipping tankers. The Maduro regime must LET THE AID REACH THE STARVING PEOPLE.”
However, Maduro and members of his inner circle have remained publicly adamant that the aid will not be allowed in.
“With this show of humanitarian aid they are trying to send a message: ‘Venezuela has to go begging to the world!’ And Venezuela will not beg for anything from anyone in this world,” Maduro said on Monday.
On Tuesday, Diosdado Cabello, another top Chavista, depicted the aid effort as part of a hostile foreign military intervention that would be rebuffed.
“Our territory must be respected. As our brother President Nicolás Maduro has said: any military unit that tries to penetrate our territory will be repelled and our Bolivarian national armed forces will defend our territory. There should be no doubt about it.”
Additional reporting by Patricia Torres