Over 330 Protestors Injured in Clashes With Police on Venezuelan Borders - OAS

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - At least 335 people have been injured during clashes between law enforcement officers and protesters on Venezuela's borders with Colombia and Brazil on 23 February, Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Luis Almagro said.

Speaking at a press conference in Colombia, Almagro said that about 285 people have suffered injuries in clashes near the Santander and Simon Bolivar bridges, connecting Venezuela with Colombia and temporarily closed on 22 February by Caracas; and around 50 others were injured near the city of Santa Elena de Uairen, located close to the Brazilian border.

Prior to that, Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said that most of the injured had been affected by the use of tear gas.

On 23 February, the Venezuelan opposition, led by self-proclaimed Venezuelan acting president Juan Guaido, tried to ensure deliveries of foreign humanitarian aid to Venezuela from hubs in the two neighbouring countries, despite the fact that the assistance has been categorically rejected by legitimate Venezuelan authorities.

Amid Saturday's attempts to force unauthorised aid deliveries into the country, Caracas severed diplomatic and political relations with Bogota.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who refused to allow any US-sponsored aid into the country, since he accuses Washington of trying to use it as a ploy to oust him from power, previously closed the land border with Brazil and the sea border with the Lesser Antilles, where the aid was being collected as well, and then shut several border crossings with Colombia.

Moscow, which has endorsed Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president, has also warned that unauthorised deliveries of foreign humanitarian aid to the Latin American country would be a provocation, which could be used as a pretext for military action against the legitimate Venezuelan government.