During the 2019 presidential crisis between the Venezuelan governments of Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, a coalition of Colombia, Brazil, the United States and the Netherlands attempted to bring essential goods as a response to shortages in Venezuela. The three main bases used for the operation were: the Colombian city of Cúcuta, the Brazilian state of Roraima, (specifically Boa Vista and Pacaraima), and the island of Curaçao, of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Shortages in Venezuela have occurred since the presidency of Hugo Chávez, with the country experiencing a scarcity rate of 24.7% in January 2008. Shortages became commonplace in the country in 2012. Since Maduro attained the presidency in 2013, he has denied that there was a humanitarian crisis in the country and refused international aid, making conditions in Venezuela worse. Maduro blamed the shortages on an economic war being waged by foreign adversaries, such as the United States, and claims that the problems in Venezuela are due to the economic sanctions against the state-run oil company PDVSA.
Guaidó and Miguel Pizarro made partial delivery of the first shipment of humanitarian aid to the Association of Health Centers (ASSOVEC) on 11 February 2019.
On 23 February 2019, a joint operation from all coalition countries by land and sea attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela. At the Colombia–Venezuela border, the caravans were tear-gassed or shot at with rubber bullets by Venezuelan personnel as they crossed bridges and ultimately blocked. According to a report released by the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Agency for International Development only 8 out of 368 tons of aid reached the country. In a December 2019 survey by Venezuelan pollster Meganalisis, 85.5% of respondents said that they did not receive support from international humanitarian aid, 7.9% said they did receive aid and 6.5% were unsure if they received humanitarian aid.
Shortages in Venezuela
The National Assembly of Venezuela, with an opposition majority, declared a "humanitarian health crisis" on 24 January 2016, in view of "the serious shortage of medicines, medical supplies and deterioration of the humanitarian infrastructure", demanding from the government of Nicolás Maduro "guarantee immediately access to the list of essential medicines that are basic, indispensable and imprescindible and must be accessible at all times".
In a September 2017 Al Jazeera interview with president of the Constituent Assembly Delcy Rodríguez, she stated, "I have denied and continue denying that Venezuela has a humanitarian crisis". As a result, international intervention in Venezuela would not be justified. She also described statements by Venezuelans calling for international assistance as "treasonous".
On 18 October 2018, the United States sent the USNS Comfort hospital ship to South America to assist those affected by the Venezuelan refugee crisis. The main goal was to relieve health systems in neighboring countries which faced the arrival of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. Three months later on 29 January 2019, the United States announced its intention to open a humanitarian corridor in Venezuela.
In a February 2019 BBC News interview with correspondent Orla Guerin, President Maduro has stated that "Venezuela is not a country of famine. It has very high levels of nutrients and access to food". He also claimed that the United States was intending to create a humanitarian crisis in order to justify a military intervention there. Joint studies shared that same month by ENCOVI, a group of researchers from Andrés Bello Catholic University, Central University of Venezuela and Simón Bolívar University, showed that in Venezuelan households, multidimensional poverty affected 51%, 80% suffered from food insecurity and 90% did not have an income to purchase any food.
Creation of the coalition
On 2 February 2019, Juan Guaidó, the National Assembly-declared acting president, announced the existence of a "humanitarian aid coalition" that comes from Colombia, Brazil and a Caribbean island.
On 5 February 2019 the foreign ministers of the United States, Brazil and Colombia met in the White House, in which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John R. Bolton were also present to discuss the issue of possible humanitarian aid. In their official message they showed that the opposition government of Guaidó was willing to support them in the land entry to Venezuela.
Guaidó called the operation a test of the military: "In a few weeks they will have to choose if they let much needed aid into the country, or if they side with Nicolas Maduro." Guaidó also warned that the Maduro administration had plans to "steal the products for humanitarian purposes that entered the country". This included plans to distribute these products through the government's food distribution program CLAP—a program from which, according to the 2017 Venezuelan Attorney General and Mexican prosecutors, Maduro personally profits.
VoluntariosXVenezuela
In mid-February, Guaidó reported that a web page called www.voluntariosxvenezuela.com had been set up for the registration of any person who wanted to volunteer to enter the humanitarian aid planned for 23 February. Days later, in the act of swearing in of thousands of volunteers present in the parking lot of the headquarters of the newspaper El Nacional, Guaidó indicated that in "a few hours" some 600,000 Venezuelans had already registered; in addition, several guilds among them belonging to the transport and health sectors, demonstrated at the event to show their support for the movement.
Between 12 and 13 February, users of state-run internet provider CANTV that tried to access the website were victims of phishing schemes. This manipulation was denounced as a technique to identify dissidents to the government. Following the phishing incident, the official site was completely blocked for CANTV users on 16 February.
February 2019 effort
According to France 24, Guaidó has made bringing humanitarian aid to the "hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who could die if aid does not arrive" a priority, and a test of the military's allegiance. He also requested aid from the United Nations. Guaidó said Venezuela's neighbors, in a "global coalition to send aid to Venezuela", will help get humanitarian aid and medicine into the country; products will be shipped to neighboring ports and brought overland via convoys. Guaidó began to lead nationwide demonstrations in early February, demanding the entrance of humanitarian aid into Venezuela, with hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protesting in support.
The administration of Nicolás Maduro deployed police officers at all land borders beginning on 5 February; in response, the United States threatened to send military personnel to Colombia and Brazil to protect those in charge of delivering the aid. Shortly after the announcement that international humanitarian aid would enter via the Colombia–Venezuela border, PSUV politician and former elite policeman Freddy Bernal appeared at the border with members of the armed forces and the FAES.
On 6 February, humanitarian aid from the United States arrived in Colombia, to be delivered and distributed in Venezuela. That same day, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo hinted that the base of operations of humanitarian aid in Brazil would be Pacaraima. In parallel, the government of Nicolás Maduro blocked the Tienditas International Bridge with cargo containers, already closed since its completion in 2016, which connects Cúcuta and the Venezuelan municipality of Ureña.
The next day, as the Colombian government transported cargo to Cúcuta, a group of Venezuelan refugees met them with support signs with the phrase "Ayuda humanitaria ya" ("Humanitarian aid now"). As the first trucks with aid, escorted by Colombian police, approached the blocked bridge on 7 February, human rights activists received them, and Venezuela's communications minister, Jorge Rodriguez said there was a plot between Colombia, the CIA and exiled Venezuelan politician Julio Borges to oust Maduro.
While Guaidó attempted to secure international aid, Maduro shipped over 100 tons of aid to Cuba following a tornado that devastated Havana. Under case file SC-2017-003, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela in exile announced the authorization for the entry of an international military coalition to secure the entry and protection of humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
Maduro voiced his opinions about why he had denied international aid, stating "With humanitarian aid they want to treat us like beggars ... in Venezuela we have the capacity to take care of our children and women. There is no humanitarian crisis here." In a later BBC interview, Maduro said, "[t]he Ku Klux Klan that governs the White House today wants to seize Venezuela" and that "Venezuela is not a country of famine. It has very high levels of nutrients and access to food." As events unfolded, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez claimed that humanitarian aid provided by the United States was "carcinogenic" and part of a plot to kill Venezuelan citizens. She also claimed that "this so-called food from the United States aims to poison our population with chemicals" and described it as "biological weapons". USAID administrator Mark Green described the allegations as "absurd". Venezuelan deputy and medic José Manuel Olivares dismissed her claims, clarifying that "the aid has quality control and sanitary registry of Colombia, Brazil and the United States." Delcy's remarks were also dismissed by the United States, saying that the Maduro government "would go to any length to lie and deny reality".
Guaidó issued an 11-day ultimatum to the Venezuelan Armed Forces on 12 February, stating that humanitarian aid will enter Venezuela on 23 February and that the armed forces "will have to decide if it will be on the side of the Venezuelans and the Constitution or the usurper".
Leaders of Pemon groups stated on 9 February that they would not abide by Maduro's orders and would allow aid into Venezuela through its border with Brazil. Mayor Emilio Gonzalez of Gran Sabana stated that "Neither the National Guard not the government can stop this" while another Pemon leader Angel Paez stated "If humanitarian aid arrives and is prevented from entering, we will suspend the entry of government trucks too." Former Amazonas governor Liborio Guarulla announced on 14 February that the humanitarian aid started entering in the Amazonas state through the Guainía, Atabapo and Orinoco rivers with help of NGO's, the Colombian government and indigenous organizations. A plane of the Brazilian Air Force carrying humanitarian aid to Venezuelans traveled to Boa Vista on 20 February, capital of the border state of Roraima providing 23 tons of powdered milk and 500 first-aid kits. Brazil pledged to make humanitarian aid available at the town of Pacaraima on its side of the Brazil–Venezuela border so Venezuelans can drive it into their country.
Humanitarian campsites were installed in at least ten states across Venezuela by 17 February; the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence detained seven people that were installing the awnings, chairs and sound equipment of the humanitarian campsite in Maracay. Maduro's government closed airways and its maritime borders with the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao on 19 February, in a move that Curaçao officials say is to prevent aid from entering.
British businessman and philanthropist Richard Branson produced a charity concert called Venezuela Aid Live on 22 February to raise funds for humanitarian aid and raise awareness of the crisis in Venezuela. The Maduro government responded by saying it would hold a rival concert called "Hands off Venezuela" on the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on 22 February.
The Constituent Assembly President, Diosdado Cabello, threatened that any planes that tried to bring aid into the country would be shot down.
Incidents
Brazilian border
Humanitarian aid was stockpiled on the Brazilian border, with the intent to bring it into Venezuela. On 20 February, Dragoon 300 armoured fighting vehicles of the Armored Cavalry Squadron were seen entering the Gran Sabana region. Groups of indigenous Pemon peoples blocked the entry of the military vehicles into the region, and members of armed forces loyal to Maduro fired upon them with live ammunition on 22 February. Fifteen Pemon were injured, four seriously, and two Pemon were killed. The injured were transferred to Brazil due to the shortage of medical supplies in the Venezuelan hospital of Santa Elena de Uairén. Following the crackdown, indigenous groups detained thirty-six soldiers and held them in the jungle. Deputy Américo de Grazia, denounced the lack of medicine and ambulances to transport the wounded.