{"id":9566,"date":"2019-02-20T11:21:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T03:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=9566"},"modified":"2019-02-20T11:30:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T03:30:41","slug":"venezuelas-military-on-alert-closes-curacao-border-ahead-of-aid-shipment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=9566","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela&#8217;s military \u2018on alert,\u2019 closes Curacao border ahead of aid shipment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Venezuela-on-alert-closes-Curacao-border-ahead-of-aid-shipment.jpg\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.bssnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Venezuela-on-alert-closes-Curacao-border-ahead-of-aid-shipment.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>CARACAS, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) -\u2013 Venezuela\u2019s military said it was on \u201calert\u201d at its frontiers following threats by US President Donald Trump and ordered its border with Curacao closed ahead of a planned aid shipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido vowed to bring aid in from various points Saturday \u201cone way or another\u201d despite military efforts to block it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But commanders doubled down on their allegiance to President Nicolas Maduro after Trump warned them to abandon him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe armed forces will remain deployed and on alert along the borders\u2026 to avoid any violations of territorial integrity,\u201d said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regional commander Vladimir Quintero later confirmed media reports that Venezuela had ordered the suspension of air and sea links with Curacao and the neighboring Netherlands Antilles islands of Aruba and Bonaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shipments of food and medicine for Venezuelans suffering in the country\u2019s economic crisis have become a focus of the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aid is being stored in Colombia near the Venezuelan border and Guaido aims also to bring in consignments via Brazil and Curacao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Brazilian presidential spokesman said the country was cooperating with the United States to supply aid to Venezuela but would leave it to Venezuelans to take the goods over the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maduro says the aid plan is a smokescreen for a US invasion. He blames US sanctions and \u201ceconomic war\u201d for Venezuela\u2019s crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The military high command has so far maintained its public backing for Maduro \u2014 seen as key to keeping him in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe reiterate unrestrictedly our obedience, subordination and loyalty\u201d to Maduro, Padrino said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump has told Venezuelan military that if they continue to support Maduro, \u201cyou will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Padrino rejected Trump\u2019s threat, branding the US president \u201carrogant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If foreign powers try to help install a new government by force, they will have to do so \u201cover our dead bodies,\u201d Padrino said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An estimated 2.3 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2015. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CARACAS, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) -\u2013 Venezuela\u2019s military said it was on \u201calert\u201d at its frontiers following threats by US President Donald Trump and ordered its border with Curacao closed ahead of a planned aid shipment. Opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido vowed to bring aid in from various points Saturday \u201cone way or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}