Venezuela Clashes Amid Intensified Sanctions

By Steve Bynum
Masked Venezuelan youth gather near the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, on the border with Colombia where Venezuelan soldiers continue to block humanitarian aid from entering. The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation.
Masked Venezuelan youth gather near the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, on the border with Colombia where Venezuelan soldiers continue to block humanitarian aid from entering. The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation. Fernando Llano / AP Photo
Masked Venezuelan youth gather near the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, on the border with Colombia where Venezuelan soldiers continue to block humanitarian aid from entering. The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation.
Masked Venezuelan youth gather near the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge in Urena, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 25, 2019, on the border with Colombia where Venezuelan soldiers continue to block humanitarian aid from entering. The United States is planning new ways to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to give up power and to provide assistance to the people of the economically devastated South American nation. Fernando Llano / AP Photo

Venezuela Clashes Amid Intensified Sanctions

By Steve Bynum
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has blocked humanitarian aid at his country’s borders. Opposition leaders and activists have so far failed to end the blockade. Trucks filled with food and medicine from the U.S. were met with tear gas and rubber bullets at the Colombian border on Saturday. Only one aid truck made it into Venezuela. The United States now threatens new sanctions as Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s self-declared interim president, asks the international community to help him overthrow Maduro. We’ll get an update from David Smilde, a Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) senior fellow and curator of WOLA’s Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights blog. He’s also a professor of sociology at Tulane University and co-editor of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Democracy: Participation, Politics and Culture under Chávez.