Maduro orders border closure to stop humanitarian aid

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro ordered the vast border with Brazil to be closed on Thursday, just days before opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid he has refused to accept.

Maduro said he’s also weighing whether to shut down the border with Colombia.

Juan Guaido, who is recognized by dozens of countries as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state, was poised for a showdown with Maduro’s government on Saturday when the opposition will attempt to bring in food and medicine being stockpiled in neighbouring countries.

Maduro denies there is a humanitarian crisis and said on Thursday he was considering closing Venezuela’s key border with Colombia and would close the country’s other main border with Brazil, effectively shutting off any legal land access.

The government has said soldiers will be stationed at official crossing points to repel any “territorial violations”, although the opposition could attempt to cross anywhere along Venezuela’s porous borders.

“I charge (Colombian President) Ivan Duque with any violence that might occur on the border,” Maduro said in televised comments, surrounded by the military high command.

Venezuela has already closed its maritime border with the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire, after Curacao’s government said it would help store aid.

Opposition lawmakers set off from Caracas in a convoy of buses just after 10 a.m. on 800-km (500-mile) road trip to the border with Colombia. Crowds formed alongside the main highway out of the capital, waving Venezuelan flags and whooping in support.

Lawmakers said Guaido's vehicle continued but his exact location was being kept a secret due to security concerns.

One opposition lawmaker in southeastern Bolivar state said he and some 20 other politicians would also travel to the border with Brazil.

Guaido still has not provided details on how the aid could come in. Opposition figures have suggested forming human chains across the land borders to pass packages from person to person and fleets of boats arriving from the Dutch Caribbean islands.