Maduro calls opposition leader
Guaido's aid caravan a 'provocation', says he may close border with Colombia as
well.
President Nicolas
Maduro said Venezuela would shut its border with Brazil on
Thursday "until further notice" amid a tense standoff with US-backed
opposition leader Juan
Guaido over allowing in humanitarian aid.
Maduro said he was also
considering a "total closure of the border with Colombia" where he
has already ordered the military to barricade a major border bridge to prevent
aid from entering the country from Cucuta, Colombia, where supplies are being
stockpiled, most of it from the United
States.
In a televised address, Maduro
called the aid a "provocation" and "child's game",
suggesting the aid is a precursor for a US military intervention in the
oil-rich, but economically crippled Latin American country.
"[The US] aimed to
generate a huge national mess, but they didn't succeed. The country wants peace,"
he said, surrounded by members of the military.
The border with Brazil - which
along with Colombia is
one of the main potential avenues for aid delivery - would be "completely
and absolutely" closed from 8pm (00:00 GMT) until further notice, Maduro
said.
#EnVivo
| Videoconferencia con el Estado Mayor Superior de la #FANB y los Comandantes de
las REDI, para verificar el apresto operacional de todas las unidades militares
de la Patria. https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGlqNEWbmJL
In a decree, the Venezuelan
military said it was also banning vessels from sailing out of Venezuela's ports
until Sunday to avoid actions by "criminal" groups.
Later on Thursday, Brazilian
presidential spokesman Otavio Rego Barros said his country was going ahead
humanitarian aid airlifts for Venezuela despite Maduro's announcement.
He said the non-perishable
food and medicine would be stockpiled in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima
until Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido was able to send trucks to pick up
the aid.
'It's rolling'
Meanwhile, Venezuelan
opposition leader Juan Guaido set out on Thursday to personally collect
US-supplied food and medicine stockpiled in Colombia.
Guaido has set a Saturday
deadline for the aid to be allowed into Venezuela.
He said he aims to rally a million volunteers to start bringing to those
in need.
"Confirmed - it's
rolling," a spokesman for Guaido said on Thursday, referring to the
collection operation announced Wednesday by Guaido.
"We know that the regime
is going to put all obstacles to prevent us from reaching the border, but
nothing is stopping us, we are going to continue," said opposition
politician Yanet Fermin.
Maduro has ordered a shipment
of thousands of food boxes to be distributed to Venezuelans along the Colombian
border.
Food Minister Luis Medina
Ramirez said on Twitter that 20,600 boxes of food from the government's
long-running subsidised food distribution programme left for the Colombian
border area from the port of La Guaira.
A video posted on the
minister's account showed 11 container trucks exiting the port near
Caracas.
"This is the real
humanitarian aid of Venezuela," Ramirez said.
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