URENA:
International pressure mounted against Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro
yesterday, with Washington vowing to "take action" after opposition
efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the country descended into bloody chaos.
Self-declared interim president Juan Guaido called on the international
community to consider "all measures to free" Venezuela after clashes
at the border crossing left at least two people dead.

Guaido announced
he would participate in today's Lima Group meeting of mostly Latin American
countries in Bogota, and called on the international community to be prepared
for "all possibilities" regarding Maduro. US Vice President Mike
Pence will represent Washington at the meeting. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said the United States "will take action" as he condemned violence
perpetrated by Maduro's "thugs." President Donald Trump has said that
Washington is not ruling out armed action.

Humanitarian aid,
much of it from the United States, has become the centerpiece of the standoff
between Maduro and Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of Venezuela's National
Assembly who declared himself interim president one month ago. The country is
gripped by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar during a prolonged
recession and hyperinflation.

Maduro claims the
aid is a smokescreen for a US invasion, and has ordered several crossings on
Venezuela's borders with Colombia and Brazil closed. Two people, including a
14-year-old boy, were killed in clashes Saturday with Venezuelan security
forces that left more than 300 people wounded at various border posts.

Guaido had set a
Saturday deadline for delivering food and medical aid stockpiled in Colombia
and Brazil. Hundreds of Venezuelans, many dressed in white, were frustrated in
their attempts to collect the aid at the Colombian border, where they were
pinned back by Maduro's security forces. Trucks with aid were prevented from
entering the country, and force was used to keep out Venezuelan nationals
trying to cross in from Colombia carrying aid parcels. Colombia ordered aid
trucks to return from the border after the violence. International aid is also
being held on the Caribbean island of Curacao.

A ship with aid
from Puerto Rico was forced to turn back after receiving a "direct threat
of fire" from Venezuela's military, the governor of the US territory
Ricardo Rossello said. He slammed the move as "unacceptable and
outrageous." Canada, a Lima Group member, called on Maduro to allow
"safe and unrestricted access" for the humanitarian aid, and said it
was "deeply concerned" by the violence "allegedly perpetrated by
the Maduro regime" aimed a blocking the entry of aid. These attacks are
"simply unacceptable," read a statement Saturday signed by the
ministers of foreign affairs and international development.

Violent clashes

Since dawn,
protesters in the border towns of Urena and San Antonio were kept at bay by the
Venezuelan National Guard firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Gunshots could be
heard in the streets of Urena during hours of rioting. Civil defense officials
in Colombia said at least 285 people had been wounded in clashes at border
bridge crossings.

But the most
serious incident came hundreds of miles (kilometers) away, at the Santa Elena
de Uairen crossing point on the southern border with Brazil where the killings
took place. Another 31 people were wounded when Venezuelan troops opened fire
on civilians hoping to collect aid across the border with Colombia, according
to rights group Foro Penal.

Maduro's
supporters also halted and set ablaze two trucks loaded with aid driven through
barricades on a border bridge, sending a pall of black smoke into the sky over
the Santander crossing linking Cucuta and Urena. Two other trucks carrying aid
sent by Brazil to Venezuela returned to the Brazilian city of Paracaima after
Venezuelan troops barred them from crossing for several hours. Some Venezuelan
National Guard troops however took advantage of the confusion to abandon their
posts and cross into Colombia. Guaido has offered amnesty to all security
personnel switching sides.

Colombia's
immigration service said at least 60 members of the armed forces had deserted
the "Maduro dictatorship" by late Saturday. Guaido -- recognized as
interim leader by more than 50 countries -- formally launched a long-planned
distribution operation at a warehouse at the Tienditas border bridge in Cucuta
joined by the presidents of Chile, Colombia and Paraguay.

Maduro defiant

Angered by
Colombia's support for Guaido, socialist leader Maduro announced that Caracas
was severing diplomatic ties with Bogota, and gave Colombian diplomats 24 hours
to leave the country. "I will never bow down, I will never give in. I will
always defend our country with my own life if necessary," Maduro told a
rally of his supporters in Caracas, after thousands had marched through the
city under the slogan "Hands off Venezuela."

At a separate
Caracas rally thousands of government opponents, mostly dressed in white,
marched waving flags outside the La Carlota military airport. As many as
300,000 Venezuelans are in dire need of food and medicine after years of
shortages and malnutrition, according to Guaido, who has accused Maduro of
rigging his re-election and is demanding a new vote. United Nations figures
show that 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 and around 5,000
Venezuelans emigrate each day. - AFP