page_title: Venezuela Aid Live
section_title: Alternative concert
hierarchical_section_title: Venezuela Aid Live / Maduro response / Alternative concert
caption_attribution_description: English: CLAP box
context_page_description: Venezuela Aid Live was a concert to benefit Venezuela in Cúcuta, Colombia, a city near the Venezuelan border, on 22 February 2019. The all-day concert, called Música por Venezuela: Ayuda y Libertad, was organized by Richard Branson and Bruno Ocampo, and featured over thirty of the best known Latin American artists from nine countries. The concert's slogan was, "Let the stars shine for all".
  Venezuela Live Aid's charity page said, "Not that long ago, [Venezuela] was the wealthiest country in South America. Now it is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere." The purpose of the concert was to raise money and to pressure Nicolás Maduro to "open Venezuela's border so humanitarian aid stockpiled on Venezuela's borders can finally reach those millions who need it the most". Donations of US$2.5 million were raised online in the first four days after the concert.
  The concert was entirely funded through donations, artists performed without charge, and the event itself was free. The concert was livestreamed on the Internet, with the aim to raise funds via website donations. The only webpage authorized for donations was the official website at www.VenezuelaAidLive.com.
context_section_description: The Maduro government responded by saying it would hold a rival concert on the Venezuelan side of the border at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on 22 and 23 February, with a proposed slogan of "Nothing for war, hands off Venezuela".  A little more than one day before the planned event, United Socialist Party of Venezuela politician Darío Vivas announced that the location would be changed, and that the event would be held instead at the opposite end of the same bridge as the Venezuela Aid Live Concert, about 300 meters (330 yd) away.  Vivas said, "What they do on the other side of the border is their problem ... We will defend our territory."
  Information Minister Jorge Rodríguez said free medical attention would be given to Colombians and Venezuelans at the event.  He also said the government would distribute 20,000 boxes of subsidized food from the Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAP)—a program from which, according to the Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz, Maduro personally profits—to the poor residents of Cúcuta.
  Estimates of attendance ranged from 1,000 to 2,500 people.
  Argentine rock band Bersuit Vergarabat took part in the concert, saying "Venezuela libre! [Donald] Trump, go away, nobody wants you here!" Venezuelan heavy metal rocker Paul Gillman also participated.
  Two days before the concert, the only participant confirmed was Paul Gillman. La Patilla reported that all other singers proposed had turned down the invitation to perform.
  César Pérez Rossi of Venezuela's Serenata Guayanesa was reported by NTN24 saying that "it is totally false that we are going to be in this concert". Colombia's National Radio reported that Las Chicas del Can from the Dominican Republic said statements that they would participate were "fake news", and asked that their fans spread word on social media to deny the claim. A spokesperson for Colombia's Grupo Niche was reported by LA FM Colombian radio station to have denied the invitation to present, expressing concern about the humanitarian situation in Venezuela.
  Puerto Rican musician Willie González refused a contract to participate in the Maduro concert, saying that he was fortunate to not need the money and that his dignity was more important to him than money, and saying on Instagram that he was "not political ... but he is human". According to Venezuela al Dia, González' rejection of the contract, saying he does not need the money, was an indication that Venezuela's money was being used to fund the concert; the Venezuela Aid Live Branson concert was funded by donations.
  Venezuelan musicians Servando & Florentino gave a quick and emphatic "no" to the proposal that they participate in the Maduro concert, although La Patilla said they have supported Maduro in the past.  Omar Enrique, a Venezuelan singer who according to NTN24 was denied entry into Colombia a few weeks before the concert because of alleged ties to chavismo, rejected what he called United States' "military intervention" and regretted that other commitments kept him from participating.
  Pink Floyd's Roger Waters afterwards dedicated a video of him singing "We shall overcome" (Spanish: Venceremos) to the Maduro concert.
caption: A food box provided by CLAP
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