CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) - Venezuela's power struggle is set to become a battle of the bands Friday when musicians demanding President Nicolas Maduro allow in humanitarian aid and those supporting his refusal sing in rival concerts being held at both sides of a border bridge where tons of donated food and medicine are stored.

The dueling concerts will literally set the stage for a showdown between Venezuela's beleaguered government and opposition leaders who are pledging to draw masses of people to the country's western border Saturday to try to usher in aid that Maduro has vowed not to accept into the country.

British billionaire Richard Branson is sponsoring a Live Aid-style concert featuring dozens of musicians including Latin rock star Juanes on one side of the border crossing that Colombian officials have renamed the "Unity Bridge," while Maduro's socialist government is promising a three-day festival deemed "Hands Off Venezuela" on the other.

"The eyes of the world will be on Venezuela," opposition leader David Smolansky said in advance of the concert as he spoke with Venezuelan migrants at a soup kitchen in the border city of Cucuta where the aid is being stored. "We hope that everything that has happened these last few weeks is the beginning of the end."

As Venezuela's political turmoil drags on, allies of Juan Guaido, who is being recognized by over 50 nations as the country's rightful president, are hoping the massive concert and aid push mark a turning point from which a transitional government is consolidated. But Maduro has shown no signs of backing down, and analysts warn that whatever happens over the next two days may not yield a conclusive victory for either side.

"I think one of the government's aims is to confuse the whole thing, possibly to create some kind of chaos that makes the opposition look bad," Phil Gunson, a senior analyst with the Crisis Group based in Caracas, said of Maduro's rival concert. "It's a propaganda war."

Branson agreed to back a concert in early February after being approached by Guaido, Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader under house arrest, and others including Colombian entrepreneur Bruno Ocampo, who said the magnate is now so committed to getting humanitarian aid into Venezuela that he will personally stay until Saturday to help ensure that food and medical supplies make it across the border.

Similar to the original 1985 Live Aid concert, which raised funds to relieve the Ethiopian famine, Branson has set a goal to raise $100 million within 60 days.

"We didn't know what we were getting into at the time," Ocampo said Thursday. "But in less than 24 hours we are going to witness something historic."

Friday's concert won't be the first time artists have used music to try and simmer tensions at the restive Colombia-Venezuela border. A concert known as Paz Sin Fronteras - Peace Without Borders - was held in 2008 after a diplomatic flare-up that drew Venezuelan troops to the Colombia border. That event was held on the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, which 33,000 people now use to enter Colombia each day.

"Throughout history, art has had a big role in fostering change," said Miguel Mendoza, a Venezuelan musician who will be performing Friday and won a Latin Grammy in 2010 as part of the pop duo Chino & Nacho. "Music, above all, has a magnificent power."

Six hundred tons of aid, largely donated by the U.S., has been sitting in a storage facility at what is widely known as the Tienditas International Bridge for two weeks. Even as several million Venezuelans flee and those who remain struggle to find basic goods like food and antibiotics, Maduro denies that a crisis exists. He contends the aid is a ploy by the Trump administration to overthrow his government. The military has placed a large tanker and two containers in the middle of the bridge to block it.

"Trump should worry about the poor in his own country," Maduro said this week.

Days after Branson launched his concert, Maduro's government announced that not only would they hold a rival festival but that they would also deliver over 20,000 boxes of food for poor Colombians in Cucuta Friday and Saturday.

The sharp rhetoric from both sides has put many in this border city of 700,000 on edge.

Paola Quintero, an activist for Venezuelan migrants, said that while the concert has had a positive, short-term impact on Cucuta's economy, many are worried about what might happen Saturday when thousands try to move aid across the border.

"What awaits those who will be on the bridge, trying to get aid through?" she said.

Venezuelans like Rosa Mora, 40, said they were still debating whether to heed the opposition's call for a mass mobilization at three bridges in the Cucuta area Saturday, fearful that they might be met with resistance by the military.

"I'm terrified of what's going to happen," she confided.

Still, when she thinks about her children and a sister with diabetes that has gone untreated for the last year, she leans toward participating.

"It won't be for me," she said. "But for our children."

On Thursday afternoon, organizers on the Colombia side of the border bridge were doing sound checks while in Venezuela a dozen workers sat idly in white plastic chairs chatting and listening to Venezuelan folk music on small speakers.

Riding by the bridge on his bike, college student Frander Duenas said he hoped to sneak into Colombia to see Branson's Venezuela Aid Live because he's a fan of the musicians performing. The government's festival didn't entice him in the least.

"This concert is for old people," he said. "No one is going to come here." </s> Gary Miller/Getty Images(LONDON) — In one of the strangest twists yet in the current crisis enveloping Venezuela, two rival concerts representing the divide in the international community will take place this weekend on the nation’s Colombian border — one staged by billionaire Richard Branson, the other by an increasingly defiant President Nicolas Maduro.

After philanthropist Branson, a critic of the Maduro regime, announced he was sponsoring a Live Aid-style benefit concert in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Friday, Feb. 22, Maduro responded by announcing his administration would be hosting its own, two-day concert at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on Feb. 22 and 23.

Both are set to take place this weekend on the border that is serving as the current flashpoint in the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.

The opposition leader, Juan Guaido — who has been recognized by the United States as interim president of the country — has denounced Maduro’s refusal to let humanitarian aid enter the country. Maduro, who crucially holds the backing of the military, has consistently said that the aid his government has blocked from entering the country is part of an imperialist plot to bring about regime change.

Branson announced the benefit concert on Feb. 15, saying in a statement that the “humanitarian crisis in Venezuela worsens every day.” “Nicolas Maduro’s regime still refuses to accept any humanitarian aid destined for the country’s suffering people,” he added. Around 300,000 people are expected to attend the benefit concert, according to The Guardian.

Branson said all the money raised by the aid concert will be distributed to humanitarian aid organizations.

In response, Venezuela’s vice president of communication, tourism and culture, Jorge Rodríguez, announced at a press conference on Monday that the “a large number of Venezuelan artists” had proposed a “great concert for peace.” The lineup of artists for the Venezuelan government’s concert is yet to be confirmed.

The musician Roger Waters, the former bassist and singer of rock band Pink Floyd, has criticized Branson’s aid concert as being politically motivated.

“It has nothing to do with humanitarian aid at all,” Waters said in a video posted on twitter. “It has to do with Richard Branson… having bought the U.S. saying, ‘We have decided to take over Venezuela.’”

“There is, so far, no civil war, no mayhem, no murderer, no apparent dictatorship,” he added.

Branson has said there is no government involvement in the aid concert and it is purely a humanitarian exercise.

“Richard is helping them to raise awareness of the crisis in Venezuela and raise much-needed funds through this event,” a spokesperson for Virgin, which handles media inquiries for Branson, said in a statement. “This is not a political statement and the U.S. is not involved in any aspect of this.” </s> Christine Armario and Luis Andres Henao, The Associated Press 

 



CUCUTA, Colombia -- Venezuela's power struggle is set to become a battle of the bands Friday when musicians demanding President Nicolas Maduro allow in humanitarian aid and those supporting his refusal sing in rival concerts being held at both sides of a border bridge where tons of donated food and medicine are stored.

The dueling concerts will literally set the stage for a showdown between Venezuela's beleaguered government and opposition leaders who are pledging to draw masses of people to the country's western border Saturday to try to usher in aid that Maduro has vowed not to accept into the country.

British billionaire Richard Branson is sponsoring a Live Aid-style concert featuring dozens of musicians including Latin rock star Juanes on one side of the border crossing that Colombian officials have renamed the "Unity Bridge," while Maduro's socialist government is promising a three-day festival deemed "Hands Off Venezuela" on the other.

"The eyes of the world will be on Venezuela," opposition leader David Smolansky said in advance of the concert as he spoke with Venezuelan migrants at a soup kitchen in the border city of Cucuta where the aid is being stored. "We hope that everything that has happened these last few weeks is the beginning of the end."

As Venezuela's political turmoil drags on, allies of Juan Guaido, who is being recognized by over 50 nations as the country's rightful president, are hoping the massive concert and aid push mark a turning point from which a transitional government is consolidated. But Maduro has shown no signs of backing down, and analysts warn that whatever happens over the next two days may not yield a conclusive victory for either side.

"I think one of the government's aims is to confuse the whole thing, possibly to create some kind of chaos that makes the opposition look bad," Phil Gunson, a senior analyst with the Crisis Group based in Caracas, said of Maduro's rival concert. "It's a propaganda war."

Branson agreed to back a concert in early February after being approached by Guaido, Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader under house arrest, and others including Colombian entrepreneur Bruno Ocampo, who said the magnate is now so committed to getting humanitarian aid into Venezuela that he will personally stay until Saturday to help ensure that food and medical supplies make it across the border.

Similar to the original 1985 Live Aid concert, which raised funds to relieve the Ethiopian famine, Branson has set a goal to raise $100 million within 60 days.

"We didn't know what we were getting into at the time," Ocampo said Thursday. "But in less than 24 hours we are going to witness something historic."

Friday's concert won't be the first time artists have used music to try and simmer tensions at the restive Colombia-Venezuela border. A concert known as Paz Sin Fronteras -- Peace Without Borders -- was held in 2008 after a diplomatic flare-up that drew Venezuelan troops to the Colombia border. That event was held on the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, which 33,000 people now use to enter Colombia each day.

"Throughout history, art has had a big role in fostering change," said Miguel Mendoza, a Venezuelan musician who will be performing Friday and won a Latin Grammy in 2010 as part of the pop duo Chino & Nacho. "Music, above all, has a magnificent power."

Six hundred tons of aid, largely donated by the U.S., has been sitting in a storage facility at what is widely known as the Tienditas International Bridge for two weeks. Even as several million Venezuelans flee and those who remain struggle to find basic goods like food and antibiotics, Maduro denies that a crisis exists. He contends the aid is a ploy by the Trump administration to overthrow his government. The military has placed a large tanker and two containers in the middle of the bridge to block it.

"Trump should worry about the poor in his own country," Maduro said this week.

Days after Branson launched his concert, Maduro's government announced that not only would they hold a rival festival but that they would also deliver over 20,000 boxes of food for poor Colombians in Cucuta Friday and Saturday.

The sharp rhetoric from both sides has put many in this border city of 700,000 on edge.

Paola Quintero, an activist for Venezuelan migrants, said that while the concert has had a positive, short-term impact on Cucuta's economy, many are worried about what might happen Saturday when thousands try to move aid across the border.

"What awaits those who will be on the bridge, trying to get aid through?" she said.

Venezuelans like Rosa Mora, 40, said they were still debating whether to heed the opposition's call for a mass mobilization at three bridges in the Cucuta area Saturday, fearful that they might be met with resistance by the military.

"I'm terrified of what's going to happen," she confided.

Still, when she thinks about her children and a sister with diabetes that has gone untreated for the last year, she leans toward participating.

"It won't be for me," she said. "But for our children."

On Thursday afternoon, organizers on the Colombia side of the border bridge were doing sound checks while in Venezuela a dozen workers sat idly in white plastic chairs chatting and listening to Venezuelan folk music on small speakers.

Riding by the bridge on his bike, college student Frander Duenas said he hoped to sneak into Colombia to see Branson's Venezuela Aid Live because he's a fan of the musicians performing. The government's festival didn't entice him in the least.

"This concert is for old people," he said. "No one is going to come here." </s> CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — Venezuela opposition leader shows up at benefit concert in Colombia, in defiance of travel ban . </s> Russia has sided with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in his stand-off with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president late last month. Maduro retains control of state institutions including the military, but most Western countries, including the United States, have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's president.

Venezuela on Wednesday received a shipment of humanitarian aid sent from Russia, including medicine and medical equipment, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing a Russian diplomatic source.

Earlier this week, Maduro had said that Russia was scheduled to deliver 300 tons of humanitarian aid to the country.

"On Wednesday, 300 tons of Russian humanitarian aid will be legally delivered to the international airport of Caracas," Maduro was cited as saying at a meeting with scientists on Monday.

Venezuela had earlier this month blocked a bridge on its border with Colombia to stop trucks carrying U.S. humanitarian aid, including high-protein foods, from entering the country. Venezuelan officials had said that the aid was a U.S. attempt to put pressure on the Maduro regime.

On Monday, British billionaire Richard Branson announced in a video posted on YouTube that he was organizing a charity concert in Cúcuta, Colombia, near the Venezuelan-Colombian border, to raise funds for “much-needed medical help” for Venezuela.

Branson said that Guaidó had asked him to help organize the event, planned for Friday, and said it would include international and regional artists. </s> Caracas, Feb 21 (EFE).- Venezuela’s National Guard (GNB) on Thursday blocked a convoy of opposition lawmakers from traveling from this capital to the Venezuela-Colombia border, video footage uploaded to social media showed.



The guardsmen forced the legislators to get off of buses, leading to a brief confrontation and pushing and shoving.



The footage showed that tear gas was fired during the incident, which occurred at around 2 pm at the La Cabrera tunnel that links the central states of Aragua and Carabobo.



Juan Guaido, the speaker of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled National Assembly and self-proclaimed acting president of the oil-rich nation, was expected to be leading the delegation that left Caracas Thursday morning for the western border state of Tachira.



The purpose of the trip is to receive international aid that has been stockpiled in the Colombian city of Cucuta.

 Preparations are being made to deliver the aid to the crisis-hit country even though leftist Venezuelan head of state Nicolas Maduro vows not to let it enter.



A member of Guaido’s team said he was traveling along with numerous other opposition lawmakers in the convoy of three buses, although EFE was unable to independently confirm that information.



Late last month, Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation into Guaido, who has had his bank accounts frozen and also is barred from selling his assets or leaving the country.



That latter restriction could prevent him from joining other opposition leaders who have gathered in Cucuta to coordinate the delivery of aid shipments from the United States.



Venezuela’s opposition, which does not recognize Maduro’s May 2018 re-election victory and his new six-year term in office that began on Jan. 10, has called on the international community to help supply food and other basic goods to a country racked by shortages and hyperinflation.



A portion of that aid is being stockpiled in Cucuta, and opposition lawmakers say they will deliver it to their homeland on Saturday amid a large mobilization of ordinary citizens.



Such a move would be in defiance of Maduro, who has says Venezuela has long been the victim of US-led economic warfare and earlier this month described the aid as a “rotten gift” carrying the “poison of humiliation.”



Separately, the White House said Thursday that US Vice President Mike Pence will visit Colombia on Feb. 25 to “voice the United States’ unwavering support for interim President Juan Guaido and highlight the Venezuelan people’s fight for democracy over dictatorship.”



The US led the way in recognizing Guaido after he declared himself interim president at a rally last month. Several Latin American countries, Canada and the major European powers also regard the senior lawmaker as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state.



While in Bogota, Pence will meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque and deliver remarks at a Lima Group meeting focused on “addressing the tragic humanitarian and security crises unfolding in Venezuela and ongoing US efforts to deliver aid to the country.”



Duque, one of Guaido’s biggest backers, on Thursday received the credentials of the Venezuelan opposition leader’s designated ambassador to Colombia, Humberto Calderon Berti. </s> CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider “all options” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting…

CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — Opposition leader Juan Guaido has called on the international community to consider “all options” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis, a dramatic escalation in rhetoric that echoes comments from the Trump administration hinting at potential U.S. military involvement.

Guaido’s comments late Saturday came after a tumultuous day that saw President Nicolas Maduro’s forces fire tear gas and buckshot on activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid in violent clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured.

For weeks, the U.S. and regional allies had been amassing emergency food and medical kits on Venezuela’s borders in anticipation of carrying out a “humanitarian avalanche” by land and sea to undermine Maduro’s rule.

With activists failing to penetrate government blockades and deliver the aid, Guaido announced late Saturday that he would escalate his appeal to the international community — beginning with a meeting Monday in Colombia’s capital with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of an emergency summit of leaders of the so-called Lima Group to discuss Venezuela’s crisis.

He said he would urge the international community to keep “all options open” in the fight to restore Venezuela’s democracy, using identical language to that of President Donald Trump, who in his public statements has repeatedly refused to rule out force and reportedly even secretly pressed aides as early as 2017 about the possibility of a military incursion.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also stepped up the belligerent rhetoric, saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who visited the border last week and has Trump’s ear on policy toward Venezuela, tweeted out pictures of anti-American strongmen including Panama’s Manuel Noriega, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu at the height of their power and then brutal downfall — the not so subtle suggestion being that Maduro himself could suffer a similar fate.

A close Guaido ally, Julio Borges, the exiled leader of congress who is Guaido’s ambassador to the Lima Group, was even more explicit in urging a military option. “We are going to demand an escalation of diplomatic pressure … and the use of force against Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship,” he said Sunday.

It’s a prospect that analysts warn risks fracturing a hard-won coalition of Latin American nations who’ve come together to pressure Maduro’s socialist government. Most Latin American governments, even conservative ones like those in neighboring Colombia and Brazil, are on the record opposing a military solution and would face huge dissent should they back any military action led by the U.S., whose interventions in the region during the Cold War remain an open wound.

“These governments know they would face a huge tide of internal opinion greatly offended by a U.S.-led invasion for historical and political reasons,” said Ivan Briscoe, the Latin America director for the Crisis Group, a Belgium-based think tank.

It also could split what has until been bipartisan support for the Trump administration’s policy toward Venezuela.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, over the weekend warned about a “potential trap being set by Trump.”

“Cheering humanitarian convoys sounds like the right thing to do, but what if it’s not about the aid? What if the real agenda is laying a pretext for war?” Murphy said on Twitter.

At the same time, though polls say Venezuelans overwhelmingly want Maduro to resign, almost an equal number reject the possibility of a foreign invasion to resolve the political impasse.

Resting at the foot of the Simon Bolivar bridge as work crews in Colombia began removing debris left by the unrest, Claudia Aguilar said she would support a military invasion but worries it would lead to more bloodshed.

The 29-year-old pregnant mother of three said she crossed illegally into Colombia on Sunday to buy a bag of rice and pasta for her family after Maduro ordered a partial closure of the border two days earlier.

“We’re with fear, dear God, of what will happen,” she said standing near the dirt trail she took to sneak across the border. “More blood, more deaths. The president of Venezuela does whatever he wants.”

In addition to weakening multilateral pressure against Maduro, analysts say the opposition saber rattling also risks undermining Guaido’s goal of peeling off support from the military, the country’s crucial powerbroker.

The 35-year-old Guaido has won the backing of more than 50 governments around the world since declaring himself interim president at a rally in January, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate because some popular opposition candidates were barred from running.

But he’s so far been unable to cause a major rift inside the military, despite repeated appeals and the offer of amnesty to those joining the opposition’s fight for power.

“How many of you national guardsmen have a sick mother? How many have kids in school without food,” he implored Saturday night, standing next to a warehouse where 600 tons of food and medicine have been stockpiled on the Colombian border. “You don’t owe any obedience to a sadist … who celebrates the denial of humanitarian aid the country needs.”

Maduro has deftly courted support from the military since becoming president in 2013, offering top commanders key posts in his cabinet, including the presidency of state-run oil giant PDVSA, the source of virtually all of Venezuela’s dollar earnings.

More than 100 members of the security forces, most of them lower-rank soldiers, deserted and took refuge inside Colombia during Saturday’s unrest, according to migration officials. But none of them was higher ranked than a National Guard major, and there’s been little suggestion any battalion or division commanders are willing to defect despite almost daily calls by Guaido and the U.S.

To be sure, there’s no indication the U.S. is planning a military invasion and Trump has made a habit of threatening friends and foes alike — China, North Korea and Canada among them — only to dial back the rhetoric down the road. Washington still has more diplomatic tools available, including extending oil sanctions to punish non-American entities that conduct business with Maduro’s government in much the way such sanctions strangled communist Cuba for decades.

Still, as early as 2017, Trump reportedly raised the possibility of a U.S. military incursion in Venezuela similar to the 1989 invasion that led to the ouster of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, both in an Oval Office meeting with then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other aides, as well as at a session with leaders of four Latin American allies on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, according to a senior administration official who has since left the White House.

In both cases Trump abandoned the war talk at the urging of his advisers and allies in the region. Prior to the current crisis, there was never any war planning by the military, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the private conversations.

Still, momentum toward a confrontation seems to be building as hopes for a quick crumbling of Maduro’s government fade.

“It acts like a magnet,” said Briscoe of the possibility of a U.S.-led intervention. “As Plan A and B fail, it’s where everyone seems to be going. But the further you move in that direction, you weaken the multilateral approach and reduce the possibility that large parts of the military will turn against Maduro.”

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and AP writer Christine Armario reported in Cucuta, Colombia.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Venezuela Aid Live is a concert set to take place on February 22nd, 2019 in the Colombian city of Cúcuta. The purpose of this concert is to bring international attention to the lack of food, medical attention, and overall wellbeing that the people of Venezuela have been suffering for the past several years. Alejandro Sanz, Miguel Bosé, Maluma, Lele Pons, Juanes, Carlos Vives, and many other music icons are will be performing.

Take a look at the video below to learn more about the situation and discover some of the arists who will be performing. </s> WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump hosts his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque at the White House on Wednesday to discuss their campaign to pressure Venezuela's far left president, Nicolas Maduro, from power.

The Trump-Duque talks in the Oval Office, followed by lunch, will give the allies a chance to compare notes just as the standoff between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido heats up over the arrival of mostly US aid shipments.

Washington has thrown its full weight behind Guaido, recognising him as interim president, demanding that Maduro step aside, imposing sanctions, and even threatening the "option" of military intervention.

Colombia plays a crucial role because it has taken in the lion's share of the more than two million Venezuelans fleeing chaos, poverty and political violence under Maduro.

Now, Colombia is the staging post for US and other foreign humanitarian aid that Maduro is refusing to allow in, saying it would be a precursor to US military action.

At a huge opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed "it's sure that the humanitarian aid will enter" on February 23. "We have almost 300,000 Venezuelans who will die if the aid doesn't enter."

Trump's hawkish national security advisor John Bolton on Wednesday tweeted that "Maduro would rather stand for tyranny than ... accept aid for the Venezuelan people."

Guaido has been recognized as interim president by 50 countries.

But Maduro, whose government has the financial and political backing of China and Russia, has so far resisted the intensifying US pressure, portraying himself in the mold of historic Latin American anti-imperialist leaders.

Moscow weighed in on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning "against all interference in Venezuela's domestic affairs, including the use of force threatened by Washington."

Venezuela has the world's biggest oil reserves but its once-thriving economy has fallen into ruin under the long-running leftist government.

Venezuelans face shortages of even basic necessities such as food and medicine and some 2.3 million people have fled since 2015, their salaries and savings rendered worthless by hyperinflation.

Maduro, who gets crucial backing from the country's powerful armed forces, denies there is a humanitarian emergency and has branded the crisis a "political show" and pretext for a US-led invasion.

Now, the focus of the struggle between Maduro and Guaido has turned to the aid shipments. Tons of aid are piling up in Colombian collection centres at the border.

On Tuesday, Guaido insisted that the border be opened.

"Here is a direct order to the armed forces: allow in the humanitarian aid once and for all (and) end the repression," he said.

Guaido's team has also met with Brazilian officials to set up a second aid storage centre. The new right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, which took over in January after more than a decade of leftist rule there, has joined the coalition against Maduro.
Venezuelan interim President Juan Guaidó arrives at the Venezuela Aid Live concert in Cúcuta, Colombia, defying a travel ban placed on him by the Maduro regime.