by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Caracas : The Venezuelan opposition has said that 50 tonnes of humanitarian aid entered the country despite a blockade ordered by the government of Nicolas Maduro, who closed the national borders to prevent the entry of requested donations.
“A part of the loads also entered through other roads and in the week we will show part of that result and where they will arrive and who will be the beneficiaries,” the president of the Commission for Social Development and Integration, Miguel Pizarro, said on Sunday.
The parliamentarian said some “50 tonnes of humanitarian aid” entered the country via two trucks from the south, where Venezuela meets Brazil, and the containers that “remain protected” contain nutritional supplements, medical supplies and hygiene products, Efe news reported.
On the border between Venezuela and Brazil on Saturday, two vehicles waited to enter to the country with donations collected in the state of Roraima, but after hours they were returned.
The trucks loaded with food and medicine were removed “as a precaution” and to “avoid possible conflicts,” Yuretzi Idrogo, Venezuelan Democratic Unity Roundtable deputy in Bolivar state and exiled in Brazil, told Efe.
“The idea is for that aid to enter peacefully and without any violence,” she said, after some groups of protesters threatened to set fire to the gas tanks of the vehicles.
The border between Venezuela and Brazil, as with Colombia, remains closed.
In some of the Venezuelan towns bordering these countries there were riots on Saturday amid the demands of demonstrators to allow the entry of aid donations, which Maduro does not accept as he considers them a pretext to a foreign invasion.
According to the opposition, the population of Santa Elena de Uairen, on the border with Brazil, is “besieged” by “paramilitaries” in connection with the clashes that have left several people dead and injured.
The confrontations there occurred in parallel to those on the border between Venezuela and Colombia, which is also closed and where aid was also expected to enter from the Colombian city of Cucuta.
Urena registered between the morning and afternoon on Sunday at least four confrontations between forces and civilians.
A regional government source told Efe there were about 200 people injured after the riots in the border areas.
The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict NGO said in a preliminary report published on Sunday that it confirmed three deaths “from bullet wounds” all of them in Santa Elena de Uairen.
The NGO said that on Saturday when there were also demonstrations throughout the country to support the entry of foreign aid donations, there were 295 injured “mostly by wounds from firearms, toxic substances and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Caracas : Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered the country’s southern border with Brazil be sealed off, media reported.
“I have decided: in south Venezuela, starting at 8 p.m. today Thursday (February 21), the land border with Brazil will be totally and absolutely closed,” said Maduro.
The measure will be in effect until further notice, the president said during a meeting with the high command of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces.
The move comes amid what he called “provocation” from Brazil’s right-wing government, reports Xinhua news agency.
Venezuela is also considering sealing its border with Colombia, he added.
“I don’t want to have to make these types of decisions, but I am evaluating it — the total closure of the border with Colombia,” said Maduro.
Both Colombia and Brazil have aligned themselves with Venezuela’s right-wing opposition and its campaign to oust Maduro and the ruling socialist PSUV party from power.
The president called on Colombia’s armed forces to refrain from taking part in the Washington-orchestrated maneuvers, including an announced February 23 attempt to deliver humanitarian aid, which Venezuelan officials believe is a pretext for military intervention.
The responsibility “for any outbreak of violence on the border between Colombia and Venezuela rests on (Colombian President) Ivan Duque,” Maduro said.
According to Maduro, Duque informed his US counterpart Donald Trump that “he does not have the backing of the Colombian armed forces for an attack on Venezuela.”
On Wednesday, Caracas announced the indefinite suspension of air and maritime connections with the neighbouring islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, which face Venezuela’s Caribbean coast.
Political tensions between the government and opposition groups in Venezuela came to a head after Maduro was sworn in to a new term on January 10.
The opposition, which largely boycotted the presidential elections in May, refuses to recognize Maduro’s re-election win and has been demanding a new round of voting.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Caracas : Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro slammed the European Union (EU)-backed International Contact Group on Venezuela, but said he would be prepared to meet its representatives, while self-proclaimed interim head of state Juan Guaido said his supporters were ready to create a humanitarian corridor if the incumbent blocks international aid.
“I’m ready and willing to receive any envoy from the contact group,” Maduro told a press conference on Friday at the presidential palace, though he rejected the “partisan, ideological” lens through which its members view the oil-rich nation, reports Efe news.
The contact group, which seeks a solution to Venezuela’s political and economic crisis through dialogue and new presidential elections, includes Germany, the UK, Spain and France, and a handful of Latin American countries such as Uruguay, Ecuador and Costa Rica.
Mexico participated at the group’s inaugural meeting on Thursday in Montevideo, but did not sign a statement calling for new presidential elections in Venezuela.
Leftist-led Bolivia also refused to support snap presidential elections in Venezuela.
The US, Canada, numerous Latin American countries and the major European powers all consider Maduro’s May 2018 re-election victory to be tainted by fraud and have recognised Guaido, the speaker of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, as Interim President.
Guaido, speaking on Friday at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, said that if Maduro continues to prevent the entry of a shipment of humanitarian aid from the neighbouring Colombia, the opposition would mobilise to create a corridor so the assistance could reach Venezuelans in need.
His pledge followed comments by the US Ambassador to Colombia urging the Venezuelan military to allow the aid to enter the country.
Venezuelan armed forces officers and troops have the opportunity to participate in a humanitarian campaign that would help alleviate severe problems in their country, which is suffering from widespread shortages of food and medicine and hyperinflation, Kevin Whitaker said in the Colombian border city of Cucuta.
Maduro has thus far used the military to block the aid from entering Venezuela, denying that the country is suffering a humanitarian crisis and saying the delivery of the shipments would be a prelude to a US-led military intervention.
US President Donald Trump has imposed severe sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry and was the first recognise Guaido as Interim President within hours of his January 23 proclamation.
Trump said last month that “all options are on the table” in dealing with Maduro.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reiterated on Friday that the only path to a solution of the crisis in Venezuela is dialogue between the government and opposition.
Lopez Obrador, as he has done throughout the current crisis, referred again to the foreign policy principles set out in Mexico’s constitution: non-intervention, self-determination of peoples, peaceful settlement of disputes and respect for human rights.
—IANS