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Volunteers fill bags of raw materials at the Las Tienditas Supply Center on February 8, 2019. REUTERS / Luisa Gonzalez

Nicolas Maduro remains firm on his positions. In a press conference on Friday, the Venezuelan president reaffirmed that Venezuela will not let in the international humanitarian aid sent by several countries including the United States. His country is going through the worst economic crisis in its history and the aid that was sent Thursday to the border between Colombia and Venezuela was to be distributed today.

This is a real communication operation that was orchestrated this Friday on the border between Venezuela and Colombia. The goal is to show cameras around the world that this is humanitarian aid.

And it was in the supply center of Las Tienditas that everything went. Shipments arriving Thursday were unpacked. Bags were filled by volunteers. Each bag containing all the basic products available such as coffee, oil, flour or chocolate.

This operation was conducted in the presence of the US ambassador to Colombia, a representative of Juan Guaido, Lester Toledo, and the director of the National Unit for Risk and Disaster Management in Colombia, who will be responsible for distributing this help.

These first aid shipments are mainly aimed at 250,000 to 300,000 Venezuelans who are at risk of death for lack of drugs and food, according to Juan Guaido. But the delivery of this aid to Venezuela will depend on the goodwill of the Venezuelan army. Because at the moment the border is closed.

In recent days, the regime of Nicolas Maduro has had containers and a tanker truck loaded onto the bridge linking the two countries. Lester Toledo, who represented Juan Guaido in the presentation, again appealed to the Venezuelan army to allow this aid to enter.

■ Maduro remains firm on its positions

For Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela does not need this help. In a press conference this Friday he assured that it is a pretext for a North American military invasion.

With our correspondent in Caracas, Benjamin Delille

He will not let anything enter. For Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela does not need the humanitarian aid promised by Juan Guaido. The Venezuelan president denounces a media spectacle to justify a military intervention of the United States.

According to Nicolas Maduro, the only way to ease the difficulties faced by Venezuelans is the lifting of US sanctions. He says the United States is depriving the country $ 10 billion. He therefore considers it burlesque that the opposition is trying to seduce the Venezuelan public with the arrival of a few tens of millions of dollars.

He invited the United States and Colombia to distribute aid on the other side of the border. " There is a lot of poverty in Cucuta, " he said, adding that Colombians would need it much more than his fellow citizens. He assured that the blocking of this aid would be done through the law.

For now, the Tienditas bridge near which the aid has been stored is blocked by the Venezuelan authorities. But it could be transported directly by the thousands of Venezuelans who walk every day to the nearby Simon Bolivar bridge.