CUCUTA: Venezuela
braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the
Colombian border yesterday as self-declared acting president Juan Guaido vowed
humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade. Socialist leader
Nicolas Maduro has vowed not to allow in the aid, which he's dismissed as a
show and pretext for a US invasion. Humanitarian aid has become the centerpiece
of the stand-off between Maduro and Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of
Venezuela's National Assembly who declared himself interim president exactly
one month ago.

Guaido has
accused Maduro of rigging his re-election and is demanding a new vote.
Venezuela is gripped by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar during
years of recession. As many as 300,000 Venezuelans are in dire need of food and
medicine after years of shortages and malnutrition, according to Guaido. United
Nations figures show that some 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since
2015 amid the crisis, and some 5,000 Venezuelans emigrate from their country
each day.

On the eve of the
face-off Guaido defied a government ban on leaving the country and attended the
"Venezuela Live Aid" concert organized by British billionaire Richard
Branson just over the border in Colombia. The concert is aimed at raising funds
to help the relief effort. Guaido sensationally claimed that the Venezuelan
military, whose high command has repeatedly declared absolute loyalty to
Maduro, "participated in this process" to get him into Colombia.

Hours later,
Caracas said it had closed much of the Colombian border, citing threats to
Venezuela's security. Guaido said that aid would come in regardless of any
military blockade. His supporters plan to drive the aid from Colombia into
Venezuela at the closed border crossings supported by a flood of volunteers and
accompanied by Catholic priests in an attempt to avoid arrest. Colombia and
Venezuela share a 2,200 kilometer (1,370 mile) long border, and trucks carrying
aid could also drive across some of the countless illegal dirt roads that link
the two countries across the porous border.

Two killed

On Friday the
tense stand-off turned deadly when two people were killed and 15 wounded as
they tried to prevent Venezuelan troops from blocking an entry point on the
Brazilian border. "An indigenous woman and her husband were killed and at
least 15 other members of the Pemon indigenous community were injured,"
said a local human rights group, Kape Kape. The clash occurred in southeastern
Bolivar state close to the border with Brazil, which Maduro ordered closed on
Thursday. Guaido called on the military to arrest those responsible for the
killings, "or you will be responsible." "It wasn't a clash, it
was an attack," said Salomon Perez, who accompanied a brother and two
nieces suffering from gunshot wounds by ambulance to a hospital in Brazil.

UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Venezuelan authorities to refrain from
using lethal force against protesters. The United States "strongly
condemns the Venezuelan military's use of force against unarmed civilians and
innocent volunteers" on the border with Brazil, the White House said.
"The world is watching," the statement added. Early yesterday two
large trucks carrying eight tons of emergency aid left Boa Vista in Brazil en
route to the Venezuelan border. The vehicles are driven by Venezuelans and
escorted by Brazilian police, organizers said.

Battle of the
bands

The
"Venezuela Live Aid" concert, which featured some of the biggest
names in Spanish-language music, was broadcast live online. Branson said he
hopes to raise $100 million for humanitarian aid over the next 60 days via
internet donations. Meanwhile aid is being stockpiled in Colombia, Brazil and
the Caribbean island of Curacao because of Maduro's ban. Guaido rallied his
supporters when he showed up at the concert on Friday joined by Colombian
President Ivan Duque, Chile's Sebastian Pinera and Mario Abdo of Paraguay. The
leaders greeted the crowd before the concert ended.

Maduro's rival
concert, decidedly smaller and featuring Cuban and local artists, began hours
later nearby on the Venezuelan side of the border in Urena.  Performers took to the stage against a giant
backdrop emblazoned with the words "#Trump Hands off Venezuela," with
around 2,500 people in attendance. "We don't want to be interfered with,
we don't want to be invaded," said Johana Suarez. Maduro said the event
would last until today. Maduro, who has support from China, Russia and the
military high command, accuses the United States of plotting a military
intervention.

Moscow has
blasted Washington for using aid as a "convenient pretext for conducting
military action." US special representative Elliott Abrams kept up the
foreign pressure on Friday when he joined a Cucuta-bound plane carrying medical
supplies and food. Peter Hernandez, a former Bolivarian National Guard member
who fled Venezuela nine months ago and settled in Cucuta, told AFP that he was
urging his ex-comrades "to think about your families, because that aid
is... for everyone, and the Venezuelan people these days have great
needs."- AFP