Caracas: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has made plans to head for the border with Colombia to personally bring in US-supplied food and medicine in defiance of the military-backed government, raising fears of possible weekend confrontations.
Guaido, who has set a Saturday deadline for bringing in the aid, planned to depart at 6:00am Thursday in a caravan of buses with members of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, forcing a high-stakes showdown with President Nicolas Maduro.
On Maduro’s orders, the military has beefed up border security and barricaded a major border bridge to prevent the supplies from entering the country from Cucuta, Colombia, where tons of supplies are stockpiled.
Although it was unclear exactly what Guaido intends to do, he says he has enlisted hundreds of thousands of volunteers in recent days to help bring in and distribute the aid sent in by various countries including the US. He requested the bus drivers to go to the borders to collect aid for Venezuelans suffering shortages.
“Even though they point guns at us – and all of us have received threats, rubber bullets and even live ones – we are not afraid,” Guaido said, standing on the back of a truck in a throng of supporters. “We will stay out in the street with our chests bared, demanding freedom for all of Venezuela.”
Shipments of food and medicine for the crisis-stricken population have become a key focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.
The 35-year-old leader of the Venezuelan legislature proclaimed himself as acting president January 23, and has since won the backing of more than 50 countries. He wants to oust Maduro, set up a transitional government and hold new elections.
“This could be very soon, between six and nine months, once Maduro’s current usurpation ends,” Guaido was quoted as saying by Mexican television station ‘Televisa’.
Guaido, who says 300,000 people could die without an influx of aid, says he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing it in by Saturday.
Addressing supporters he listed the planned transit points of entry at the Brazilian and Colombian borders, the island of Curacao and the seaports of Puerto Cabello and La Guaira.
Private bus driver Jose Figueroa, 60, said he planned to leave Caracas in the coming days in a convoy of some 30 vehicles.
“The government is leading us to war. It will be very difficult. The situation is extremely tense,” Figueroa said, as drivers parked their buses and pick-up trucks at a rally in central Caracas. “But then a bullet will kill you more quickly than hunger.”
AFP
