GUIDANCE

A High-Profile Aid Event Presents Maduro With a Lose-Lose Situation

Feb 22, 2019 | 10:30 GMT

A volunteer helps stage U.S. humanitarian aid goods in Cucuta, Colombia, in preparation for an attempt to deliver them to Venezuela on Feb. 23.

A volunteer carries a bag with U.S. humanitarian aid goods in Cucuta, Colombia on the border with Tachira, Venezuela on Feb. 8, 2019. Venezuelan military officers blocked a bridge on the border with Colombia ahead of an anticipated humanitarian aid shipment, as opposition leader Juan Guaido stepped up his challenge to President Nicolas Maduro's authority. 

(RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The Venezuelan opposition, in coordination with the United States, Colombia and Brazil, will try to deliver shipments of humanitarian aid to Venezuela on Feb. 23.
  • If the Venezuelan armed forces allow the aid into the country, it would be a sign of advancing amnesty negotiations among the opposition, key military commanders and the United States.
  • Even if the armed forces block the aid, the global attention focused on the attempt to deliver it will help to maintain momentum behind the opposition's effort to remove President Nicolas Maduro.

The United States, the Venezuelan opposition and its regional allies plan to deliver a shipment of humanitarian aid across the Venezuelan-Colombian border on Feb. 23 in a highly publicized event that's designed to raise pressure on the Venezuelan government. The Colombian and Brazilian governments, in cooperation with Washington, have for weeks worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross to assemble tons of food, medicine and other supplies near the Colombian city of Cucuta. The attempt to move the goods across the border with Colombia, coupled with a simultaneous effort to deliver aid over the Brazilian-Venezuelan border, sets up a potential showdown between Juan Guaido, the interim Venezuelan president who has won partial international recognition, and members of the Venezuelan armed forces, who have been ordered by President Nicolas Maduro to close border crossings and block the aid....

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