Showdown Over Aid for Venezuela: New York Times

Venezuelans have suffered for years from shortages of food and other necessities due to economic mismanagement by the regime led by Nicolás Maduro since 2013. More than 10 percent of the country’s population has already fled, the violence exacerbating a refugee crisis International aid supplies are waiting near the border in Brazil and Colombia. Opposition leader and head of the country’s National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, is trying to distribute the aid against Maduro’s orders. Security forces fired on protesters near the border with Brazil, killing two and wounding others. Indigenous protesters took two national guardsman as captives. “The bloodshed came as the presidents of Chile, Colombia and Paraguay flew to the Colombian border town of Cúcuta in a display of anti-Maduro resolve – and were joined by Mr. Guaidó, who defied a travel ban,” reports the New York Times. Protesters, aid organizers, political groups, and concert organizers and goers have descended on the town of 750,000. “The opposition sees a chance to break through Mr. Maduro’s blockade of the shipments, establishing Mr. Guaidó, who they and more than 50 other countries call Venezuela’s legitimate president, as the one who can provide the country food.” Analysts express concern about violence and civil war. Or, Maduro could simply relinquish power. – YaleGlobal