Several lorries with food and medicine are now at a collection centre in Cúcuta, Colombia
CUCUTA (COLOMBIA), Feb 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The first lorries with US humanitarian aid for Venezuela have arrived in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta.
The vehicles are currently parked near the Tienditas bridge, which remains blocked by Venezuelan troops.
President Nicolás Maduro, who has the support of the army, has rejected letting it into the country.
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself interim president, has warned many Venezuelans are in danger of dying without international aid.
Guaidó is head of Venezuela’s National Assembly and says the constitution allows him to assume power temporarily when the president is deemed illegitimate.
He has secured the backing of over 40 countries, including the US and most Latin American and European nations. Maduro still has the support of China and Russia.
On Thursday, several lorries with food and medicine arrived at a collection centre in Cúcuta.
The vehicles were escorted by Colombian police motorcycles.
It was not immediately clear how the humanitarian aid would be delivered across the border.
The Venezuelan military had earlier placed cargo containers and a tanker lorry across the Tienditas bridge, which connects Cúcuta and the city of Ureña in Venezuela.
Maduro has refused foreign aid supplies, saying they would open the way for US military intervention to oust him.
He said that “no-one will enter, not one invading soldier”.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is demanding that Venezuela re-open the bridge, saying “the Maduro regime must let the aid reach the starving people”.
A number of Venezuelan leaders have also appealed to the military to allow the aid lorries to cross into the country. — NNN-AGENCIES
