page_title: Venezuela Aid Live
section_title: Purpose
hierarchical_section_title: Venezuela Aid Live / Purpose
caption_attribution_description: English: Industrialist Richard Branson at the Time 100 Gala, May 3, 2010. Photo by David Shankbone. This photos is licensed under the Attribution 3.0 license, which means it can be used and modified for any purpose only if the author is properly credited where it is used.
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: Branson and his friend, Colombian businessman Bruno Ocampo, spoke of Venezuela and their passion for human rights in December 2018.  Six weeks later, Branson wrote to Ocampo, inquiring about ways to help Venezuela, and by 30 January, they had made contact with interim president Guaidó and his mentor Leopoldo López.  Branson announced on 14 February 2019 that his inspiration to organize the benefit concert was Guaidó and Lopez asking for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Venezuela. The concert was held only three weeks after the four men spoke.
  Branson said the event was held to raise money for aid in Venezuela, to pressure the government of Nicolás Maduro to allow the humanitarian aid funded by various nations and stored in Cúcuta to be distributed within Venezuela, and to raise awareness of the crisis in Venezuela.  He criticized Maduro's regime for refusing aid. The concert's Spanish website listed five general groups in Venezuela which the concert aimed to help: children who go hungry every day, grandparents left to die in the streets due to lack of welfare, parents who work hard and still can't provide, young people unjustly persecuted, and humanity deserving a life in peace.
  A press release from Venezuela Aid Live said that all money donated to the cause would be given in humanitarian aid to the people of Venezuela. Branson asked for donations to reach "$100 million dollars in 60 days". The concert was livestreamed on the Internet, with the aim to raise additional funds via website donations. Organizers said the concert was entirely funded through donations, artists were not compensated for performing, and the concert was free.
  Branson advertised that the concert would be "a beautiful concert", featuring a "fantastic line-up of top Latin American and global artists", that would be live-streamed around the world. The Spanish website of the concert featured the story of a young man who watched his mother suffer in pain from cancer, with a highlighted statement that 50% of cancer patients in Venezuela receive no treatment.
caption: Branson in May 2010
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