Venezuelan opposition prepares to confront troops on border

Activists in Venezuela are preparing to confront troops on the country’s border attempting to block a plan to bring in humanitarian aid.

Opposition volunteers in Brazil and Columbia are planning to help bring food and medicine into the country which has suffered an economic meltdown under the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported.

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A bridge connecting Columbia to Venezuela has been blocked by shipping containers, while a further two bridges have been closed for several years. Maduro has also shut the Brazilian border and the maritime border with the Dutch Caribbean islands.

Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez said yesterday that the government has shut the border that connects it with Cucuta, in Columbia, following a “series of illegal threats” by Columbia.

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Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself president, defied court orders to remain in Venezuela yesterday and visited Cucuta, where aid from the US and Columbia has been stockpiled.

“Today the obstacles that the dictatorship created will tomorrow be rivers of unity of peace,” Guaido said in a news conference on Friday in Cucuta, where he was received by Colombian President Ivan Duque.