Venezuela's Maduro Spurns US Aid

TEHRAN (defapress) – Venezuela’s government said the United States should distribute humanitarian aid in Colombia where it is being stockpiled, while the opposition warned that blocking much-needed food and medicine could constitute crimes against humanity.

News ID: 75497

Date: 09 February 2019 - 12:02

A day after the aid convoy arrived in the border city of Cucuta, President Nicolas Maduro ridiculed the United States for offering small amounts of assistance while maintaining sanctions that block some $10 billion of offshore assets and revenue, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have thronged the streets of Venezuela, holding rallies in support and against Maduro, who began his second six-year term in office last month.

The clashes began after Juan Guaido, the opposition leader in the country’s National Assembly, proclaimed himself as “interim president” and urged Maduro to resign.

The US rushed to support Guaido, announcing sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry. Other US officials have also doubled down on the possibility of military action, reiterating President Donald Trump’s stance that “all options are on the table.”

Guaido warned military officers against blocking the arrival of aid amid spiraling disease and malnutrition brought on by a hyperinflationary collapse.

The Trump administration last week issued sweeping sanctions against state oil company PDVSA, froze profits generated by refining subsidiary Citgo, and has vowed to starve Maduro’s government of all revenue.

Maduro said blocking the OPEC nation’s oil shipments would be economically and socially “catastrophic” for the country, adding that anyone who accepted a nomination from Guaido to posts at PDVSA or Citgo would “face justice.”

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