Venezuela: Maduro blocks humanitarian aid at Columbia border

The first trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Venezuela have arrived at the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, as opponents of Nicolás Maduro step up efforts to further isolate the embattled president.

The convoy of two large articulated lorries and seven smaller trucks reached the Tienditas international bridge on Thursday, a day after Venezuelan authorities blockaded the crossing with shipping containers and a fuel tanker.

President Nicolás Maduro, who has the support of the army, has rejected letting it into the country.

Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself interim president, has warned many Venezuelans are in danger of dying without international aid.

Guaidó is head of Venezuela's National Assembly and says the constitution allows him to assume power temporarily when the president is deemed illegitimate.

He has secured the backing of over 40 countries, including the US and most Latin American and European nations. Maduro still has the support of China and Russia.

Maduro denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, and members of his administration have denounced the aid effort as a foreign conspiracy designed to destabilize their government.

A handful of demonstrators gathered to welcome the aid trucks, waving placards and shouting “Maduro out”. One carried a sign reading: “The best humanitarian aid is to rid us of cancer called Nicolás Maduro.”

The US Senator Marco Rubio, who has played an active role in shaping Donald Trump’s Venezuela policy, tweeted on Thursday: “Over 50 metric tons of humanitarian aid from the US is now in Colombia. The Post-Maduro future of military leaders in #Venezuela will depend in large part on whether or not they allow that aid to reach the people.”

It was not immediately clear how the humanitarian aid would be delivered across the border.

The Venezuelan military had earlier placed cargo containers and a tanker lorry across the Tienditas bridge, which connects Cúcuta and the city of Ureña in Venezuela.

The United Nations estimates 3 million people have fled the country since 2015 to escape chronic food and medicine shortages, crumbling healthcare and transport systems and an economy in freefall.