Venezuelan troops have blockaded a bridge that connects the country to Colombia, in an apparent bid by President Nicolas Maduro to stop international humanitarian aid being delivered.
Two shipping containers and an oil tanker have been positioned on the Tienditas international bridge, near the Colombian city of Cucuta, which was one of three designated staging points for the delivery of aid.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The aid was organised by opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, who called on the international community for help as Venezuela continues to sink into further economic collapse.
However, Maduro has “repeatedly denied his economically devastated country is facing a humanitarian crisis, apparently fearing such an acceptance could be used to justify foreign military intervention”, The Guardian says.
In a speech to his troops this week, Maduro insisted that Venezuela did not need any international help, saying: “We are not beggars.”
Reuters reports that the United Nations has issued a warning against “using aid as a pawn in Venezuela”. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York: “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or other objectives.”
The blockade comes just days after Maduro appeared to threaten Guaido with imprisonment.
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has previously said that violence or intimidation of Guaido or other opposition leaders “would represent a grave assault on the rule of law and will be met with a significant response”.
-
Europe’s apples are peppered with toxic pesticidesUnder the Radar Campaign groups say existing EU regulations don’t account for risk of ‘cocktail effect’
-
Political cartoons for February 1Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Tom Homan's offer, the Fox News filter, and more
-
Will SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic make 2026 the year of mega tech listings?In Depth SpaceX float may come as soon as this year, and would be the largest IPO in history
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Ukraine, US and Russia: do rare trilateral talks mean peace is possible?Rush to meet signals potential agreement but scepticism of Russian motives remain
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Trump backs off Greenland threats, declares ‘deal’Speed Read Trump and NATO have ‘formed the framework for a future deal,’ the president claimed
-
How oil tankers have been weaponisedThe Explainer The seizure of a Russian tanker in the Atlantic last week has drawn attention to the country’s clandestine shipping network
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
