Venezuela Builds Up Troops on Border With Colombia For Security Reasons

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced the day before that the country's authorities had decided to temporarily close three bridges connecting Colombia and Venezuela ahead of humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan army is building up troops on the border with Colombia following instructions given by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

#23Feb|| Cumpliendo instrucciones de nuestro CJ @NicolasMaduro, Cmdte CEOFANB AJ @CeballosIchaso ordenó al Sistema Defensivo Territorial #FANB despliegue operacional en la frontera colombo venezolana para resguardar la paz y seguridad del pueblo tras cierre de la frontera. pic.twitter.com/xRBXpXstEP

— CEOFANB (@ceofanb) 23 февраля 2019 г.

The opposition, led by Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself Venezuela’s interim president, expects humanitarian aid to begin arriving in the country on Saturday. The US relief aid has been so far collected at logistics hubs in Brazil's Roraima, Colombia's Cucuta and on the Caribbean island of Curacao.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro previously said that Venezuela would close the border with Brazil and was considering closing the border with Colombia. He has warned that the US and its allies were using "the pretext of delivering humanitarian aid" to try to "destroy the independence and sovereignty of the country".

Caracas would not allow such aid into the country, Maduro said, adding that the country was coping with its difficulties and that US "concerns" over Venezuela's humanitarian crisis had been "fabricated by Washington over the last four years to justify intervening in our country".