Maduro’s Forces Kill, Injure Protestors as Standoff Over Aid in Venezuela Escalates – By Claire Hansen (US News) / Feb 22 2019
The violence comes a day before a standoff at the Venezuelan border over humanitarian aid is expected to take place.
Brazilian soldiers organize humanitarian aid for Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of Venezuela’s border with Brazil on Thursday in an increasingly fraught power struggle with Juan Guaido, the opposition leader spearheading efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country despite a military blockade.
A political standoff in Venezuela turned deadly on Friday when security forces fired at Venezuelans protesting the government’s blockade of humanitarian aid at the border with Brazil.
At least one civilian was killed and more than a dozen were wounded in a confrontation along the southeast border with Brazil, in the Gran Sabana area, according to news reports, though a tweet from opposition lawmaker Americo De Grazia suggested a second person had also died. The victims are said to be from the indigenous community.
The violence comes just a day before what’s expected to be a showdown Saturday between government forces and the opposition at the Venezuelan border with Brazil and Colombia.
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela this week ordered the country’s border with Brazil closed to block humanitarian aid from reaching the country and also closed air and sea routes from three Caribbean islands to Brazil as he attempts to cling to power. Maduro’s government has used large containers to construct a blockade on a bridge that connects Colombia with Venezuela to keep out aid from the U.S. and other countries that has been stockpiled on the Colombian end of the bridge.
Juan Guaido, the opposition leader who has been recognized by the United States and much of the global community as the country’s legitimate president, has promised to bring aid to the country, the citizens of which are starving because of a long and crippling economic crisis.
The opposition, led by Gaudio, has said it will try to bring the shipments into the country on Saturday through the western border with Colombia and the eastern border with Brazil, despite the government’s blockades, setting up the potential for a violent standoff between the two factions.
Maduro has defended his decision to block foreign aid from the country, saying that Venezuela is not a country of “beggars” and accusing Gaudio of being aligned with the Trump administration.
Several current and former officials, including members of the National Guard and Venezuela’s former spy chief, have turned against Maduro.
Maduro’s government and opposition forces are also set to hold competing concerts on opposite ends of the bridge that connects Venezuela and Colombia.
Richard Branson, a british billionaire, is sponsoring what’s being billed as a Live Aid-style concert on one end of the bridge, while Maduro’s government has said it will hold a three-day festival on the other, according to the Associated Press.
