CARACAS, Feb 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido set a goal of enlisting a million volunteers within a week to confront
a government blockade that has kept tons of humanitarian aid, most of it from the United States, from flowing into the country.
Guaido has given Feb 23 — one month to the day after he proclaimed
himself acting president — as the date for a showdown over the aid with the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Food supplies, hygiene kits and nutritional supplements have been
stockpiled near the Venezuelan border in Cucuta, Colombia.
Additional storage centers are supposed to open this week in Brazil and
Curacao, a Dutch island off Venezuela’s northern Caribbean coast.
“Our principal task is to reach a million volunteers by February 23,”
Guaido said in a message to the 600,000 supporters who have signed up so far for the push to bring aid in.
He said the volunteers would gather at designated points, or participate
on social media.
Caravans of buses are being planned to carry volunteers to border entry
points to meet and transport arriving cargo, but Guaido has kept to himself
how he plans to overcome the obstacles put up by the Venezuelan military, on Maduro’s orders.
Volunteer groups have already begun meeting in so-called “humanitarian
camps” in several Venezuelan states to organize and prepare for the arrival
of aid. Sometimes working under awnings or tents, doctors, nurses, dentists
and pediatricians have attended to local residents in need.
An imploding economy has driven an estimated 2.3 Venezuelans to migrate,
while those who remain have been punished by hyperinflation that has put
scarce food and medicine out of reach for many.
Maduro, who denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis, dismisses the
opposition moves as a “political show” and a cover for a US invasion.
“Venezuela is preparing for the humanitarian avalanche,” Guaido told about 4,000 supporters clad in white T-shirts and green scarves who gathered Saturday to sign up as volunteers.
US Senator Marco Rubio, meanwhile, arrived Sunday in Cucuta for a first-
hand look at the aid operations. He met with officials at the collection
point and visited the Simon Bolivar international bridge linking Colombia and Venezuela.
Guaido, in a tweet, thanked Rubio for his “noble effort to achieve
humanitarian aid.”
Three US military cargo planes delivered several dozen more tons (tonnes)
of food assistance to Cucuta on Saturday.
Another US aircraft is due in Curacao from Miami on Tuesday, and a
collection center for Brazilian aid will open Monday on the border, Guaido’s
team said. Saturday’s shipment was accompanied by a delegation led by Mark Green, head of the US Agency for International Development.
Venezuelans based in Miami held their own drive, putting together 1,000
crates of food to send to their homeland.
On Friday, Maduro instructed his army to prepare a “special deployment
plan” for the 2,200-kilometer border with Colombia.
Maduro has poured scorn on the aid, spurning it as “crumbs” and “rotten
and contaminated food” while blaming shortages of food and medicine on US sanctions.
He said six million families had benefited from subsidized food boxes and
he claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from
China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies.
On another front, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza confirmed
having held two meetings with special US envoy Elliott Abrams. Arreaza, who traveled to New York on February 13, said he held the talks with Abrams at the request of the State Department.
Guaido repeated his call on Venezuela’s military — whose support for
Maduro has been crucial — to let the aid pass.
He also announced that British billionaire Richard Branson was organizing a concert for February 22 in Cucuta with renowned international artists to
raise money for the relief effort. — NNN-AGENCIES