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Colombia to Create Centre to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Venezuela

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CARACAS (Sputnik) - Colombian President Ivan Duque confirmed on Sunday that a facility for collecting humanitarian aid for Venezuela would be created in the northeastern Colombian city of Cucuta at the Venezuelan border.

"Several minutes ago, I confirmed to [Venezuelan] interim President Guaido that Cucuta will become one of the centres for collecting humanitarian aid for Venezuela", Duque said in a video address.

He specified that the humanitarian assistance would include household items, medicines, food, and "everything that the brotherly people of Venezuela needs".

Later in the day, Guaido thanked Colombian President Ivan Duque for his readiness to organize the collection of humanitarian aid for Venezuelan people.

"We are thankful to President Ivan Duque for all of his support. We are brotherly nations and we thank Colombia for its eagerness to ensure that Venezuelans receive the immediate help that they need", Guaido posted on Twitter.

On Saturday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido claimed that three facilities for collecting foreign humanitarian aid for Venezuela, currently going through a political crisis, would be created: one in Cucuta, one more in Brazil, and another one on an island in the Caribbean Sea. According to Guaido's claims, up to 300,000 Venezuelans are currently facing risk of death by starvation.

READ MORE: Self-Proclaimed Leader Guaido Vows to Ask EU to Protect Venezuela's Assets

On 23 January, Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly proclaimed himself the country's interim president. The United States and a number of other countries, including Colombia, have voiced support for Guaido.

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While constitutionally elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of orchestrating a coup in Venezuela in a bid to ouster him, he has also suggested in an interview with Sputnik that US President Donald Trump had ordered to "Colombian mafia" to kill him. This came against the backdrop of years-long tense relations between the two Latin American countries.

Meanwhile, Russia, Iran, Mexico, Turkey and other sountries have voiced its support for Maduro as the only legitimate leader of Venezuela.

READ MORE: Bolton's '5,000 Troops to Colombia' Note Amid Venezuela Unrest Puzzles Bogota

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Earlier this week, the United States blocked $7 billion in Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA's assets and banned business with the entity in support of self-proclaimed opposition leader Juan Guaido.

According to UN data, over 3 million Venezuelans have fled the country seeking to escape an economic collapse that includes dire food shortages and hyperinflation reportedly caused by a series of US sanctions imposed against the current government as well as the nation’s energy sector.

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