U.S. military planes drop aid to Venezuela border in effort to boost support for Guaido

A second United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane loaded with humanitarian aid lands at Camilo Daza airport in Cucuta, Colombia, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

The army of the United States was given the task of transporting tons of aid for Venezuela to a Colombian town on the border with Venezuela, Cucuta. This as an effort to undermine Socialist President Nicolás Maduro and back his rival in the leadership of the South American nation, Juan Guaido.

It is necessary to mention that Cucuta, is a Colombian city that is the border with Venezuela. The same during the last years in which Venezuela has suffered a crisis has been flooded by thousands of Venezuelans. Those who, in turn, have tried to escape the terrible situation that their nation is going through. In this way, Cucuta is a collection point of aid that is supposed to be distributed by the supporters of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who is recognized by the United States and many other nations as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

In this way, the C-17 cargo planes that took off from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida had landed in Cucuta, Colombia. That being the case, Mark Green, who is a USAID administrator, was at the Cucuta runway in a ceremony to receive the help and said, “This was not the first, and it will not be the last”, and assure, “More is on the way”.

Blocked help

Maduro clings to his army which remains loyal to him, to help him prevent aid from entering Venezuela. In fact, he has described such aid as “crumbs” of a United States government, and Maduro told The Associated Press, “They hang us, steal our money and then say ‘here, grab these crumbs’ and make a show global”, and likewise reiterated “With dignity, we say ‘No to the world spectacle’. Whoever wants to help Venezuela is welcome, but we have enough capacity to pay for everything we need”.

Meanwhile, his vice president has alleged, without proof, that the aid packages are contaminated. However, Green on Saturday called the accusations “absurd.”

The opposition leader, Guaido, requested an effort on January 23 to bring aid to Venezuela from Cucuta and two other collection points in the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil, and on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao.

Likewise, thousands of doctors, nurses and others gathered in a parking lot in eastern Caracas on Saturday as part of an effort to recruit 600,000 volunteers to distribute or provide assistance from the opposition. Many of them would be willing to go to Cucuta if necessary, in order to help. And is that due to the crisis, doctors and nurses have seen several patients die in their arms due to lack of medication

Source: The Associated Press, Fernando Vergara, Gisela Salomon, And Fabiola Sanchez | National Post