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US aid blocked after Venezuela closes routes

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Bogota: Tonnes of humanitarian aid sent from the United States to Venezuela is being held up on Curacao after Caracas closed air and sea routes to the Dutch Caribbean island, Venezuelan and Colombian media reported.


“No aid delivery will leave Curacao for Venezuela by force,” the daily El Universal quoted the island’s authorities as saying on Friday.


The aid, which has been donated by Venezuelans living in the US, will be kept in storage until the government in Caracas gives it the greenlight to enter, the statement added.


The news came as a stand-off intensified between opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom dozens of countries have recognized as Venezuela’s interim president, and President Nicolas Maduro, whom Guaido is pressuring to resign.


Guaido wants to bring in aid for hundreds of thousands of people who,he says, are at risk due to food and medicine shortages. Maduro wants to prevent the arrival of the aid, which he regards as a plot to disguise a US military intervention.


Curacao has been established as one of the hubs through which aid is set to be transported to Venezuela. The main aid collection centre is in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, while another one is being set up in Brazil.


In addition to closing sea and air routes to Curacao, Maduro has sealed the long land border with Brazil and said he is also considering a closure of the Colombian border.


Guaido published a “presidential decree” ordering the reopening of the Brazilian border late on Thursday. He also reiterated his offer of an amnesty to soldiers who turn against Maduro and let the aid through.


— dpa


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