Image copyright AFP Image caption Thousands of people are fleeing the worsening economic crisis in Venezuela

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has demanded Venezuela open a bridge on the Colombian border for an aid shipment organised by the opposition.

Venezuelan soldiers have blocked the crossing ahead of a delivery arranged by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself interim president.

President Nicolás Maduro, who has the support of the army, has rejected letting it into the country.

In a tweet, Mr Pompeo demanded Mr Maduro let the aid through.

"The Maduro regime must LET THE AID REACH THE STARVING PEOPLE," the post reads.

Venezuela is in the grip of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Mr 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. Mr Maduro still has the support of China and Russia.

What is happening at the border?

The Venezuelan military had used a tanker truck and cargo containers to block access to the Tienditas bridge which links Cúcuta, Colombia to Ureña, Venezuela, opposition politician Franklyn Duarte told AFP news agency.

"Troops from the armed forces are blocking the pass", he said. The bridge, a joint project between Colombia and Venezuela, was finished in 2016 but never opened as relations between the two neighbours had soured.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Opposition leader Juan Guiadó claims up to 300,000 people face death if the aid is not delivered

Venezuelan opposition leaders appealed to the military to allow aid trucks to cross the border.

"You know there's a red line, you know well there's a limit, you know that medicines, food and medical supplies are that limit," said lawmaker Miguel Pizarro.

Pictures shared on social media appeared to show residents confronting soldiers in Ureña.

Mr Maduro said humanitarian aid would be the start of a US-led invasion, insisting that "no-one will enter, not one invading soldier".

How will the aid scheme work?

Mr Guaidó does not control any territory in Venezuela so, instead, he is planning to set up collection centres in neighbouring countries where Venezuelans have fled to.

He said he wanted to set up an international coalition to gather aid at three points, and press Venezuela's army to let it into the country.

In a tweet on Sunday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said plans were being advanced.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said in an interview the use of military force remained "an option".

In his State of the Union speech, he reiterated his support for Mr Guaidó, saying: "We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom."

Correction 25 February 2019: This article has been amended to make clear that while construction of Tienditas Bridge was completed in 2016, it was never opened due to worsening relations between Venezuela and Colombia.</s>Caracas -- There's growing concern that humanitarian aid desperately needed in Venezuela could become a pawn in the country's deepening political crisis. Forces loyal to embattled President Nicolas Maduro used a fuel tanker and cargo trailers on Wednesday to block a bridge that connects Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.

It happened as the U.S. sent aid requested by the Venezuelan opposition to Colombia, intended for delivery across the border.

CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez is in Caracas, where food and medicine have been in desperately short supply for months. He reports that the efforts by the U.S. and other international donors -- coordinated with opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó -- to get aid into Venezuela could be the biggest test yet for the two men claiming to lead the country, and the forces behind them.

Guaidó stands to gain ground if he can help get the food and medicine to the places where it's desperately needed.
• How the Venezuela crisis could harm an entire generation of kids

"We're going to succeed in getting this #HumanitarianAid in because it's about saving lives!" Guaidó said in a tweet early Thursday morning. He said his U.S.-backed shadow administration was working "every day" to get the aid into Venezuela, and accused the Maduro regime of "keeping the medicines and food from those who urgently need them."

Maduro's supporters, however, insist they can't be bought.

Bojorquez visited one west Caracas neighborhood where the sentiment is about as pro-Maduro as it gets. It's controlled by a so-called "colectivo," or collective -- one of many civilian groups that act as a quasi-police force, to enforce the rule of the government.

Jefferson Gonzalez, part of the local colectivo, tells Bojorquez he isn't worried about who is going to be president in Venezuela, because in his view, there is no leader but Maduro.

Maduro sent his own tweet on Thursday morning, noting that the U.S. has maintained a trade embargo on his government's close ally Cuba for 57 years -- the same American "empire" which he said currently "besieges our homeland."

"The worthy peoples of the world, we will continue our battle for our right to be free and independent," said Maduro.

The colectivo control access to virtually all the resources in the area, and access to the airwaves. They provide their message directly to the residents. They even have their own currency, but there are few places to spend it.

At stores where food is available, there are long lines. Gonzalez says the working class neighborhood's name, "Panal" or hive, is also a warning.

"You're worker bees," he says, "but it's also, 'we'll sting you if you attack.'"

In fact, the colectivos can be more like armed gangs. They're believed to have been part of an attack on opposition lawmakers in 2017, and they vow to stand by Maduro until the end.

But there are signs that support for the president, within the all-important military apparatus, is cracking.

One junior officer from Venezuela's National Guard agreed to speak with CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer this week on the condition that we hide his face and disguise his voice.

"We are suffering just like the people," he said. "My salary isn't even enough to buy food."

While Maduro appears almost daily in front of groups of his troops on state TV, to show the military's support for him, the anonymous officer told CBS News that many in uniform are now just waiting for one thing: "All we need is a high-ranking general to rebel, to lead the way."

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton has said the U.S. will consider lifting sanctions on any senior military officers who switch sides to back Guaidó.

But so far, the vast majority are standing firm.</s>The imminent arrival in neighbouring countries of humanitarian aid destined for crisis-stricken Venezuela has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the struggle for power between the South American country’s two rival presidents.

Colombian authorities on Tuesday detailed plans for the collection and storage of initial shipments of food and medical aid at its frontier with Venezuela ahead of talks with leaders from the opposition-controlled National Assembly in Caracas about its eventual distribution.

Further shipments to be routed through Brazil and an as-yet unnamed Caribbean island have also been announced.

But embattled Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has denounced the humanitarian operation as a pretext for a military intervention by the US in support of opposition leader Juan Guaidó. He declared himself president on January 23rd in a bid to force Maduro’s populist Chavista movement from power after 20 years. He has since been recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate president by more than 40 states including most of those in the Americas.

While the humanitarian situation in Venezuela is critical, Guaidó has attempted to use the foreign aid to drive a wedge between Maduro and the Venezuelan military, which has so far remained loyal to the chavista leader during the present crisis despite some high-level defections.

Guaidó renewed his call for the military to defy Maduro’s opposition and allow the humanitarian help in, claiming it was necessary to prevent the deaths of 300,000 people who will die “if this aid does not get in urgently”. The collapse of the Venezuelan economy has led to dire shortages of food and medicines and provoked a breakdown of the public health system.

In a speech on Monday thanking leading members of the EU for their recognition of him as president, Guaidó said the military now had a decision to make: “Whether to continue on the side of someone who is isolated, or on the other side, not only of the constitution, but also of humanity, of those who need this aid to arrive... The moment is now.”

The Venezuelan Catholic bishops’ conference also joined calls for the aid to be let in “in order to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable”.

Though Canada and the EU have committed funds to relief, the initial aid arriving in Colombia is mainly from the US government aid agency USAid. The Maduro regime has sought to portray Guaidó as a puppet of the Trump administration, which it accuses of trying to orchestrate his overthrow.

In a speech on Monday marking the anniversary of a failed coup attempt mounted in 1992 by chavismo’s founder Hugo Chávez, a defiant Maduro again criticised the aid effort and said Venezuelans “were not anyone’s beggars” and accused the country’s “oligarchy” of lacking any dignity “to confront those from the north who treat and mistreat us with orders and counter-orders”.

But while the White House has refused to rule out the possibility of a US military intervention, saying “all options are on the table”, there remains no support for such action in the wider region.

At Monday’s meeting in Ottawa of the Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada, Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said all members of the ad-hoc body dedicated to resolving the Venezuelan crisis were against any military solution to the crisis.

Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourão, a former general, has also ruled out Brazilian participation in any possible US military intervention, despite the admiration for Donald Trump among senior figures in the new far-right administration of President Jair Bolsonaro.

“Unless some new fact that cannot be foreseen emerges I think it is very difficult to imagine that the US with no support from a coalition of other countries would unilaterally undertake a radical measure like military intervention,” says Rubens Barbosa, Brazil’s former ambassador to Washington.

The diplomatic search for a solution now switches to Montevideo where Uruguay and the EU will jointly chair a meeting of the newly formed International Contact Group on Venezuela on Thursday.

There is concern in the region not only that any administration that replaces Maduro on the back of a US intervention would lack legitimacy but also at how an estimated 20,000 Cuban personnel in Venezuela, many of them military and intelligence operatives, would react.

Cuba has become central to sustaining the Maduro regime as it bids to prop up its closest ally whose financial aid has been crucial in alleviating the communist island’s economic slump following the loss of its last patron, the USSR in 1991. Despite the humanitarian crisis at home, Venezuela shipped 100 tonnes of relief aid to Cuba after the capital Havana was hit by tornadoes last week.</s>Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has said he 'will not go down in history as a traitor' as he vowed to resist Washington's demands to step down.

Donald Trump has warned he could use military force in Venezuela if Maduro does not hand over power, after the U.S. recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim President.

European powers joined Trump in turning their back on Maduro yesterday but the military has so far remained loyal to the current regime.

Speaking to RT - the state-owned broadcaster of Maduro's ally, Russia - Venezuela's President warned the country would defend its 'sacred land' against any invasion.

He said: 'I'm not going to be a traitor, a weak man who turned his back on his historic commitments to his people.

'What is the casus belli [cause of war] of Donald Trump against Venezuela? It is Venezuela's oil, riches, gold, gas, iron, diamonds and material riches.'

Rejecting European calls for new elections he said the country had gone to the polls 25 times in 20 years, saying the 'problem is in the opposition'.

Russia, China, Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, Mexico, North Korea, Turkey and Uruguay continue to back Maduro as leader.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today accused the EU of hypocrisy by trying to force Maduro out.

'On one side you will say 'democracy, democracy, democracy' and 'ballot box, ballot box, ballot box' and later you will dare to topple the government by violence and ruse,' he said.

Venezuela is in the grip of severe shortages of food and medicine and an inflation rate of more than one million per cent, according to the UN.

Guaido has said that 300,000 people are at risk of death from malnutrition and illness after years of shortages of basic food and medicines.

The U.S. has pledged humanitarian aid for Venezuela but Maduro has turned it down, believing it is the first step to overthrowing him.

Guaido accused the military of planning to divert aid in order to distribute it through the socialist government's subsidised food program for supporters.

The aid supplies are being stockpiled in Colombia and Brazil and will test the military's loyalty as Maduro orders the packages to be turned back.

Guaido appealed to the military's 'conscience' to let the aid reach those most in need.

US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that military intervention remains 'an option' for dealing with the crisis in Venezuela.

On Sunday, Maduro addressed troops on military exercises, calling on them for 'maximum cohesion'.

Saturday saw rival protests as tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Caracas, some demanding Maduro's resignation and others celebrating 20 years since Maduro's mentor, Hugo Chavez, came to power.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also pledged $40million in humanitarian aid as he hosted a meeting of the Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada.

Eleven of the group's 14 members issued a joint statement calling for a peaceful change of government in Venezuela, without military intervention.

But Maduro dismissed the group's calls for change, saying they made him feel 'like vomiting and laughing at the same time.'

Meanwhile Britain, France and Spain were among 16 EU nations to side with Guaido yesterday after Maduro their demands to call new elections.

Russia slammed what it called interference in the oil-rich but now poor Latin American country, saying it was an attempt to 'legitimise usurped power.'

Under Maduro's stewardship, oil-dependent Venezuela has plunged into an economic crisis, suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.

The current crisis began after Maduro was sworn into a second term last month, following 2018 elections branded illegitimate by the opposition.

On Monday, oil prices rose to their highest level yet this year on European markets on the back of the crisis in Venezuela.</s>Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has said he 'will not go down in history as a traitor' as he vowed to resist Washington's demands to step down.

Donald Trump has warned he could use military force in Venezuela if Maduro does not hand over power, after the U.S. recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim President.

European powers joined Trump in turning their back on Maduro yesterday but the military has so far remained loyal to the current regime.

Speaking to RT - the state-owned broadcaster of Maduro's ally, Russia - Venezuela's President warned the country would defend its 'sacred land' against any invasion.

He said: 'I'm not going to be a traitor, a weak man who turned his back on his historic commitments to his people.

'What is the casus belli [cause of war] of Donald Trump against Venezuela? It is Venezuela's oil, riches, gold, gas, iron, diamonds and material riches.'

Rejecting European calls for new elections he said the country had gone to the polls 25 times in 20 years, saying the 'problem is in the opposition'.

Russia, China, Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, Mexico, North Korea, Turkey and Uruguay continue to back Maduro as leader.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today accused the EU of hypocrisy by trying to force Maduro out.

'On one side you will say 'democracy, democracy, democracy' and 'ballot box, ballot box, ballot box' and later you will dare to topple the government by violence and ruse,' he said.

Venezuela is in the grip of severe shortages of food and medicine and an inflation rate of more than one million per cent, according to the UN.

Guaido has said that 300,000 people are at risk of death from malnutrition and illness after years of shortages of basic food and medicines.

The U.S. has pledged humanitarian aid for Venezuela but Maduro has turned it down, believing it is the first step to overthrowing him.

Guaido accused the military of planning to divert aid in order to distribute it through the socialist government's subsidised food program for supporters.

The aid supplies are being stockpiled in Colombia and Brazil and will test the military's loyalty as Maduro orders the packages to be turned back.

Guaido appealed to the military's 'conscience' to let the aid reach those most in need.

US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that military intervention remains 'an option' for dealing with the crisis in Venezuela.

On Sunday, Maduro addressed troops on military exercises, calling on them for 'maximum cohesion'.

Saturday saw rival protests as tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Caracas, some demanding Maduro's resignation and others celebrating 20 years since Maduro's mentor, Hugo Chavez, came to power.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also pledged $40million in humanitarian aid as he hosted a meeting of the Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada.

Eleven of the group's 14 members issued a joint statement calling for a peaceful change of government in Venezuela, without military intervention.

But Maduro dismissed the group's calls for change, saying they made him feel 'like vomiting and laughing at the same time.'

Meanwhile Britain, France and Spain were among 16 EU nations to side with Guaido yesterday after Maduro their demands to call new elections.

Russia slammed what it called interference in the oil-rich but now poor Latin American country, saying it was an attempt to 'legitimise usurped power.'

Under Maduro's stewardship, oil-dependent Venezuela has plunged into an economic crisis, suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine.

The current crisis began after Maduro was sworn into a second term last month, following 2018 elections branded illegitimate by the opposition.

On Monday, oil prices rose to their highest level yet this year on European markets on the back of the crisis in Venezuela.</s>The United States is sending food and medical supplies to Colombia's border with Venezuela where it will be stockpiled until it can be delivered to the economically shattered nation, U.S. officials with knowledge of the plan said Tuesday. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aid would be prepositioned at the main Colombian-Venezuelan border crossing at Cucuta.



It is unclear how the supplies will get into Venezuela without the blessing of President Nicolas Maduro and cooperation of the Venezuelan military, which has remained loyal to the socialist leader and is stationed on the Venezuelan side of the border.



Pressure is growing on Maduro to step down after more than a dozen European Union nations, including Britain, Germany and France, Monday joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognizing Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.

...</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sent food and medicine to Colombia’s border with Venezuela, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, although it is still unclear how the aid will get past the objections of President Nicolas Maduro, who has blocked shipments in the past.

One official with knowledge of the plans, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aid will be prepositioned at the main Colombian-Venezuelan border crossing at Cucuta.

The U.S. officials said trucks carrying the aid, including high-protein foods, would arrive in Cucuta this week at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself to be the South American nation’s interim president.

Opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro told reporters in Caracas on Tuesday that Guaido’s team would communicate the next steps on shipping the aid once it was in place.

Shipments were also coming from Venezuelan companies abroad, Colombia, Canada and Germany. Aid groups have asked authorities to allow the aid in, said Caritas, a Catholic aid group.

Prepositioning aid in warehouses or in truck convoys at border posts for weeks, or sometimes months, is common while officials negotiate safe passage.

Franklin Graham, chief executive of relief group Samaritan’s Purse and the son of renowned Christian evangelist Billy Graham, said until humanitarian groups had access inside Venezuela, most aid likely would remain at the border.

“I don’t know how they’re going to do that, until the political situation changes,” said Graham, referring to the dilemma of how to get the aid inside Venezuela.

Samaritan’s Purse has operated for the past three years in Cucuta, where food, medicine and backpacks are given to Venezuelans heading on foot into Colombia. The group also has managed to get a small amount of aid inside the country, which Graham called “a drop in the bucket” compared to what is needed.

“The government of Venezuela needs to open the borders, that’s it: Open the borders and let food convoys come into your country, open up your airports and let food flights fly in,” said Graham, who said he spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump about the situation in December.

Pressure is growing on Maduro to step down after more than a dozen European Union nations, including Britain, Germany and France, on Monday joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

However Russia, China and Turkey continue to back Maduro, accusing Western nations of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The 35-year-old Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has galvanized the opposition with a hopeful message. He has repeatedly called on Venezuela’s military, which has remained loyal to Maduro, to support a transition to democracy.

The United States could attempt to seek the approval of the United Nations Security Council to deliver aid without Maduro’s cooperation, but Russia would likely block such a move.

So far, Maduro has rejected foreign aid. “We are not beggars. You want to humiliate Venezuela, and I will not let our people be humiliated,” he said on Monday.

Maduro’s government, overseeing an economic collapse that has prompted 3 million Venezuelans to flee the country, lashed out at the EU nations for recognizing Guaido, accusing them of submitting to a U.S. “strategy to overthrow the legitimate government.”

The Cucuta crossing from Venezuela appeared to be quiet on Tuesday. The largest city along the frontier, Cucuta has borne the brunt of the arriving migrants. Thousands of people cross the pedestrian bridge daily lugging suitcases and plastic bags.

“Maduro doesn’t want help,” said Carolina Rozo, 20, as she crossed the bridge with a wheeled metal shopping cart. “He wants us to be poor. We have to come to buy food because we cannot even get cooking oil and eggs in Venezuela.”

Those who settle in Cucuta are often Venezuela’s poorest.

Others walk and bus hundreds of kilometers to other cities in Colombia, or follow thousands of others to Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

With Maduro in control of Venezuela’s military and all the territory, getting aid in will be hard, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, who has led U.S. government responses to international disasters.

“If the goal here is to alleviate suffering, then you do need to be smart about dealing with the power structure that is in place,” Konyndyk said.</s>The imminent arrival in neighbouring countries of humanitarian aid destined for crisis-stricken Venezuela has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the struggle for power between the South American country’s two rival presidents.

Colombian authorities on Tuesday detailed plans for the collection and storage of initial shipments of food and medical aid at its frontier with Venezuela ahead of talks with leaders from the opposition-controlled National Assembly in Caracas about its eventual distribution.

Further shipments to be routed through Brazil and an as-yet unnamed Caribbean island have also been announced.

But embattled Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has denounced the humanitarian operation as a pretext for a military intervention by the US in support of opposition leader Juan Guaidó. He declared himself president on January 23rd in a bid to force Maduro’s populist Chavista movement from power after 20 years. He has since been recognised as Venezuela’s legitimate president by more than 40 states including most of those in the Americas.

While the humanitarian situation in Venezuela is critical, Guaidó has attempted to use the foreign aid to drive a wedge between Maduro and the Venezuelan military, which has so far remained loyal to the chavista leader during the present crisis despite some high-level defections.

Guaidó renewed his call for the military to defy Maduro’s opposition and allow the humanitarian help in, claiming it was necessary to prevent the deaths of 300,000 people who will die “if this aid does not get in urgently”. The collapse of the Venezuelan economy has led to dire shortages of food and medicines and provoked a breakdown of the public health system.

In a speech on Monday thanking leading members of the EU for their recognition of him as president, Guaidó said the military now had a decision to make: “Whether to continue on the side of someone who is isolated, or on the other side, not only of the constitution, but also of humanity, of those who need this aid to arrive... The moment is now.”

The Venezuelan Catholic bishops’ conference also joined calls for the aid to be let in “in order to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable”.

Though Canada and the EU have committed funds to relief, the initial aid arriving in Colombia is mainly from the US government aid agency USAid. The Maduro regime has sought to portray Guaidó as a puppet of the Trump administration, which it accuses of trying to orchestrate his overthrow.

In a speech on Monday marking the anniversary of a failed coup attempt mounted in 1992 by chavismo’s founder Hugo Chávez, a defiant Maduro again criticised the aid effort and said Venezuelans “were not anyone’s beggars” and accused the country’s “oligarchy” of lacking any dignity “to confront those from the north who treat and mistreat us with orders and counter-orders”.

But while the White House has refused to rule out the possibility of a US military intervention, saying “all options are on the table”, there remains no support for such action in the wider region.

At Monday’s meeting in Ottawa of the Lima Group of Latin American countries and Canada, Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said all members of the ad-hoc body dedicated to resolving the Venezuelan crisis were against any military solution to the crisis.

Brazil’s vice president Hamilton Mourão, a former general, has also ruled out Brazilian participation in any possible US military intervention, despite the admiration for Donald Trump among senior figures in the new far-right administration of President Jair Bolsonaro.

“Unless some new fact that cannot be foreseen emerges I think it is very difficult to imagine that the US with no support from a coalition of other countries would unilaterally undertake a radical measure like military intervention,” says Rubens Barbosa, Brazil’s former ambassador to Washington.

The diplomatic search for a solution now switches to Montevideo where Uruguay and the EU will jointly chair a meeting of the newly formed International Contact Group on Venezuela on Thursday.

There is concern in the region not only that any administration that replaces Maduro on the back of a US intervention would lack legitimacy but also at how an estimated 20,000 Cuban personnel in Venezuela, many of them military and intelligence operatives, would react.

Cuba has become central to sustaining the Maduro regime as it bids to prop up its closest ally whose financial aid has been crucial in alleviating the communist island’s economic slump following the loss of its last patron, the USSR in 1991. Despite the humanitarian crisis at home, Venezuela shipped 100 tonnes of relief aid to Cuba after the capital Havana was hit by tornadoes last week.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sent food and medicine to Colombia’s border with Venezuela, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, although it is still unclear how the aid will get past the objections of President Nicolas Maduro, who has blocked shipments in the past.

One official with knowledge of the plans, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aid will be prepositioned at the main Colombian-Venezuelan border crossing at Cucuta.

The U.S. officials said trucks carrying the aid, including high-protein foods, would arrive in Cucuta this week at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month declared himself to be the South American nation’s interim president.

Opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro told reporters in Caracas on Tuesday that Guaido’s team would communicate the next steps on shipping the aid once it was in place.

Shipments were also coming from Venezuelan companies abroad, Colombia, Canada and Germany. Aid groups have asked authorities to allow the aid in, said Caritas, a Catholic aid group.

Prepositioning aid in warehouses or in truck convoys at border posts for weeks, or sometimes months, is common while officials negotiate safe passage.

Franklin Graham, chief executive of relief group Samaritan’s Purse and the son of renowned Christian evangelist Billy Graham, said until humanitarian groups had access inside Venezuela, most aid likely would remain at the border.

“I don’t know how they’re going to do that, until the political situation changes,” said Graham, referring to the dilemma of how to get the aid inside Venezuela.

Samaritan’s Purse has operated for the past three years in Cucuta, where food, medicine and backpacks are given to Venezuelans heading on foot into Colombia. The group also has managed to get a small amount of aid inside the country, which Graham called “a drop in the bucket” compared to what is needed.

“The government of Venezuela needs to open the borders, that’s it: Open the borders and let food convoys come into your country, open up your airports and let food flights fly in,” said Graham, who said he spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump about the situation in December.

Pressure is growing on Maduro to step down after more than a dozen European Union nations, including Britain, Germany and France, on Monday joined the United States, Canada and a group of Latin American countries in recognising Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.

However Russia, China and Turkey continue to back Maduro, accusing Western nations of meddling in Venezuela’s internal affairs.

The 35-year-old Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, has galvanized the opposition with a hopeful message. He has repeatedly called on Venezuela’s military, which has remained loyal to Maduro, to support a transition to democracy.

The United States could attempt to seek the approval of the United Nations Security Council to deliver aid without Maduro’s cooperation, but Russia would likely block such a move.

So far, Maduro has rejected foreign aid. “We are not beggars. You want to humiliate Venezuela, and I will not let our people be humiliated,” he said on Monday.

Maduro’s government, overseeing an economic collapse that has prompted 3 million Venezuelans to flee the country, lashed out at the EU nations for recognising Guaido, accusing them of submitting to a U.S. “strategy to overthrow the legitimate government.”

The Cucuta crossing from Venezuela appeared to be quiet on Tuesday. The largest city along the frontier, Cucuta has borne the brunt of the arriving migrants. Thousands of people cross the pedestrian bridge daily lugging suitcases and plastic bags.

“Maduro doesn’t want help,” said Carolina Rozo, 20, as she crossed the bridge with a wheeled metal shopping cart. “He wants us to be poor. We have to come to buy food because we cannot even get cooking oil and eggs in Venezuela.”

Those who settle in Cucuta are often Venezuela’s poorest.

Others walk and bus hundreds of kilometers to other cities in Colombia, or follow thousands of others to Brazil, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

With Maduro in control of Venezuela’s military and all the territory, getting aid in will be hard, said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, who has led U.S. government responses to international disasters.

“If the goal here is to alleviate suffering, then you do need to be smart about dealing with the power structure that is in place,” Konyndyk said.</s>Venezuela’s natural reserves, such as oil, gas, and gold, encourage the US to seek regime change there, President Maduro told RT, saying he won’t be remembered as a leader who showed weakness and ignorance to his people.

“What is Donald Trump’s ‘casus belli’ against Venezuela? The ‘casus belli’ is the oil of Venezuela, the riches of Venezuela, its gold, gas, iron, diamonds, other material riches,” Maduro said in an exclusive interview with RT Spanish. The remarks come as Western nations pile overwhelming pressure on the Latin American country.

President Maduro, who is widely seen as the successor to the cause of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, said it doesn’t matter how he will go down in history.

What does matter, he said, is that he doesn’t want to be a “traitor” and a “weak person,” bowing down to Washington.

Turmoil in Venezuela escalated on the heels of economic hardships which saw the country suffer from galloping inflation, skyrocketing prices and low living standards. Yet, President Maduro believes his government has a solution to those troubles.

Admitting that “hyperinflation caused tremendous damage to us,” he suggested that the resources “kidnapped by the world” be freed for a national recovery.

Aside from that, the government will work on keeping prices as low as possible and will stabilise the national currency rate. US sanctions also did their job, President Maduro said.

He labelled Washington’s restrictions against state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and its US subsidiary Citgo illegal, saying Caracas will respond.

“What they have done has no name, it has never been done against any country,” stated President Maduro.

CIA World Factbook for 2017 says Venezuela has the world’s biggest proven crude oil reserves, surpassing those of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq.

During the crisis, Venezuelan officials suggested that oil is behind US attempt to replace Maduro with someone friendlier to Washington.

As Bush-era arch-hawk John Bolton put it, the US had “a lot at stake” in Venezuela’s affairs.

“It will make a big difference to the United States economically if we could have American oil companies invest in and produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela,” he told Fox Business host Trish Regan.

The US has steadily toughened sanctions on Venezuela in recent years in an effort to weaken the government and destabilise economy.

Some international observers believe the sanctions and economic war hit Venezuela’s people in the first place, contributing to the lack of medicine, malnutrition and mortality.

In a separate development, President Maduro said he had written to Pope Francis asking him to help mediate his country’s crisis after a number of nations recognised an unelected opposition member as interim leader.

“I sent a letter to Pope Francis,” President Maduro told Italy’s SkyTG24 television in an interview broadcast on Monday.

“I told him that I serve Christ’s cause . . . and in this spirit I asked for his help, in a process of facilitating and strengthening dialogue,” said Maduro, who has rejected calls for snap presidential elections.

“I ask the Pope to put in his best effort, his will to help on the path of dialogue. I hope to receive a positive response,” he said. — RT/AFP/HR.
The Venezuelan National Guard blocks off a bridge on the Colombia–Venezuela border with a tanker truck. The Venezuelan opposition had been planning to use the bridge to bring humanitarian aid into the country, while President Nicolás Maduro has rejected foreign aid, saying "we're not a nation of beggars".