Venezuela’s Guaido to meet Mike Pence in Columbia

Venezuela's self-declared interim president and opposition leader, Juan Guaido, arrived in Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday ahead of a Monday meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence.

Guaido, who is battling President Nicolas Maduro for control of the country, made the trip after a violent weekend in which the Venezuelan military blocked food and supplies from crossing the border from Colombia.

The Colombian foreign minister said 285 people were hurt, with 37 requiring hospitalization, after the Venezuelan National Guard fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters near the Colombian border Saturday.

The United States and most other Western nations no longer recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

In recent weeks, Trump has said all options were on the table for supporting Guaido and has declined to rule out the use of military force.

Maduro put out a defiant message Sunday.

"The people are united in the streets, mobilized and alert in every corner of the country," he said on Twitter. "I call on men and women of goodwill, not to lower their guard and to stay in the fight to preserve Venezuela's peace. Long live the Rebel homeland!"

When he arrived in Bogota, Guaido said, "Yesterday we saw an unprecedented crime with the burning of humanitarian aid that generously arrived at the Colombian collection point and which was then handed over to Venezuelan volunteers, who are again insisting that it's necessary to save lives. Venezuela today is again in crisis and it could have been alleviated yesterday."

Guaido had called for other nations to send aid to Venezuela in response to worsening food and medicine shortages. He declared that Saturday was the deadline to move the food and other supplies across the border.

But Maduro vowed to block the supplies, denying that a humanitarian crisis exists in Venezuela and suggesting that aid efforts are part of a US plot to orchestrate a coup.

On Monday, Pence will travel to Colombia to address a meeting of the Lima Group -- made up of leaders mostly from Latin American countries. The White House said Pence would "voice the United States' unwavering support for interim President Juan Guaido.