The U.S. military will begin delivering relief supplies to Colombia to help Venezuelan migrants crossing the border, the Pentagon said Friday, part of a broader U.S. effort to assist an interim government in Caracas.
The relief includes food, hygiene kits and medical supplies, said a Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis.
"We will have more details on additional humanitarian assistance and U.S. military logistical support for these efforts shortly," Davis said.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the mission does not indicate that additional American troops will be deploying to Colombia. More than 200 tons of supplies are expected to begin arriving as soon as today. Aircraft will deliver supplies on behalf of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to an undisclosed airfield near the border and leave, the official said.
The Associated Press, citing an email from a congressional aide, reported that the aid will be delivered to the city of Cucuta, a border city in northeast Colombia where other supplies have been collected for Venezuelans. It isn't yet clear how they will be distributed, or where.
The deliveries will come as the United States continues to put pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down during an economic and political crisis in which Venezuela's National Assembly declared Maduro's 2018 re-election invalid in January and declared the assembly's president, Juan Guaido, as interim president.
Davis said the assistance is part of an effort by the U.S. government "to respond to the humanitarian impacts of this political and economic crisis." The aid was requested by Guaido, he said.
Maduro has so far blocked any humanitarian aid from entering Venezuela, saying it is part of a U.S.-led coup. Guaido has set a Feb. 23 deadline to allow aid in, but it isn't clear what will happen if it's not met. The United States has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to participate in a coup.
The development agency said in a tweet Friday that the hygiene kits include toilet paper, feminine products, soap, razors, toothpaste, laundry detergent and other items that have become scarce and prohibitively expensive in Venezuela.
The Pentagon's announcement came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a news conference in Iceland that Maduro's recent invitation to Elliot Abrams, the State Department's special envoy for the country, shows that he is desperate.
Pompeo repeated a frequent criticism that Venezuelan's humanitarian crisis is Maduro's fault and said the United States will continue to try to get food and other aid to Venezuela. Maduro's government has blocked the aid delivery.
"This man, Maduro, has created a humanitarian crisis that is unequaled, in a nation where there was no hard conflict," Pompeo said. "And we as citizens, this weekend will continue to deliver massive humanitarian assistance."
Last month, national security adviser John Bolton made headlines by carrying a notepad with the phrase "5,000 troops to Colombia" on it during a briefing about Venezuela, but it would be complicated for the Trump administration to complete such a plan. Congressionally mandated U.S. troop caps in the country state that no more than 800 service members and 600 contractors can be in Colombia at a time.
Information for this article was contributed by Carol Morello of The Washington Post.
A Section on 02/16/2019