Venezuela orders partial closure of Colombian border as U.S. plans to deliver aid

Venezuela’s government is ordering the partial closure of its border with Colombia hours ahead of a U.S.-backed plan to deliver humanitarian aid over the objections of President Nicolás Maduro.

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Twitter that the government was ordering the temporary closure of three crossings in Tachira state because of the “serious and illegal threats” against Venezuela’s peace and sovereignty coming from Colombia’s government.

The border area is where supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaidó are looking to deliver several tons of emergency food and medical supplies airlifted to Colombia in recent days by the Trump administration.

A man walks past boxes of USAID humanitarian aid at a warehouse at the Tienditas International Brigde on the outskirts of Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela.Fernando Vergara / AP

Venezuela’s foreign minister on Friday called the opposition’s attempt to deliver aid on Saturday “a spectacle” and accused the U.S. of orchestrating the event “to generate violence” and get the military to rise up.

The U.S. State Department also said Friday that it and others have begun “pre-positioning additional humanitarian aid” for Venezuelans in Boa Vista, Brazil, near that country’s border with Venezuela.

“This life-saving humanitarian assistance is made up of 178 metric tons of locally-procured food supplies and is ready to be delivered to Venezuelans suffering from severe food shortages inside Venezuela,” the State Department said.

Maduro on Thursday ordered the vast border with Brazil closed.

Also Friday, Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on indigenous people near the border with Brazil, killing two, Reuters reported.

The violence broke out in the village of Kumarakapay in southern Venezuela after an indigenous community stopped a military convoy heading toward the border with Brazil that they believed was attempting to block aid, according to community leaders Richard Fernandez and Ricardo Delgado.

Soldiers later entered the village and opened fire, killing a couple and injuring several others, they said. A regional official confirmed that two people were killed, according to Reuters.

“I stood up to them to back the humanitarian aid,” Fernandez told Reuters. “And they came charging at us. They shot innocent people who were in their homes, working.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Friday that “The United States strongly condemns the Venezuelan military’s use of force against unarmed civilians and innocent volunteers on Venezuela’s border with Brazil.”

“Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido has requested immediate humanitarian assistance from the international community for the people of his country, while the Maduro regime has given orders to close the borders and repress those who seek to bring aid into the country,” Sanders said.

“Egregious violation of human rights by Maduro and those who are following his orders will not go unpunished,” the White House statement said.

Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. rose after the Trump administration recognized Juan Guiadó as the country’s legitimate leader.

Guiadó declared himself the country’s interim president last month and gained the support of other countries in the region and Europe.

In response, Maduro announced he was severing diplomatic relations with the U.S., expelling all American diplomats and recalling Venezuelan diplomats from the United States.

Instead, the U.S. reduced its staff at the Caracas embassy to a bare minimum but said it had no plans to close the mission. An interim arrangement allowing that was due to expire on Monday.

U.S. officials said Friday that an agreement has been reached between the two countries to extend the stay of U.S. diplomats in Caracas. U.S. officials said the agreement will allow the diplomats to remain in Venezuela for another 30 days

Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, canceled plans to travel to South Korea to focus on events in Venezuela, the White House said Friday.