The United States military is currently engaged in a major operation to deliver emergency aid to Venezuela. The first wave of supplies and food arrived on 8 February and included locally purchased food kits, hygiene accoutrements, medical supplies, ready-to-use supplementary foods, and high-energy biscuits, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said.
In the most recent delivery, U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo planes left Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami and landed in Cucuta, Colombia, according to a statement from USAID. The relief supplies delivered included hygiene kits that can help about 25,000 people and nutrition products that USAID says can feed about 3,500 children.
Via U.S. military cargo planes, more than 200 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid sent to Venezuela is scheduled to begin arriving just across the border in Colombia on Saturday.
The Trump administration has been heavily involved in the Venezuelan crisis since opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president. “The United States remains deeply concerned about the crisis in Venezuela that has consequences for the entire region,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said in a statement Friday. Most U.S. efforts have been aimed at garnering support for Guaidó and pressuring Maduro to step down, even implicitly threatening military intervention. But the efforts to contain the chaos in Venezuela have been multifaceted. “A whole of government approach is needed to respond to the humanitarian impacts of this political and economic crisis,” Davis added.
Unfortunately, the American aid has yet to be transferred from Colombia to Venezuela. Demonstrating just how far off the deep end Nicolás Maduro has gone, the Venezuelan “president” has refused to allow the food and supplies to enter the country. According to Maduro, the aid is part of Washington’s political maneuvering to get him out of office. On Maduro’s orders, security forces have blocked off the bridge needed to bring the supplies into Venezuela.
