Suddenly he's there, he jumps onto the stage. The people on the Tienditas Bridge yell, the mobile phones pull out. But Juan Guaidó does not pick up the microphone, he just raises his right arm in salute, next to him are adjutants Colombian President Iván Duque, Chile's President Sebastián Piñera and Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez.

It is Friday, late afternoon. The sun is dawning on Cúcuta, the "Venezuela Aid Live" concert is coming to an end after seven hours and more than a dozen international artists. But somehow things are just getting started in the Colombian border town, where the future of Venezuela could decide on this long weekend.

Guaidó's appearance is like a triumphal procession: Look, I've made it, here I am - despite the court's ban on leaving the country. Venezuela's opposition leader and self-styled head of state arrived in Cucuta from Caracas after 30 hours of driving and 900 kilometers in convoy. Later that evening, at an impromptu press conference, he says, "We're here because the Venezuelan forces also made us here."

What Guaidó says: That he can be in Cúcuta is only because the support for Nicolás Maduro and his government in Caracas in the military continues to crumble. And just as Guaidó left his country on Friday with no problems, he wants to return on Saturday with food, medicines and toiletries. "The hurdles that dictatorship is building today will tomorrow be a river of peace, unity and a flow of people who want to save lives."

Aid is highly political

The 23rd of February has declared Guaidó the decisive day. It's a day full of symbolism. It has been a month since he proclaimed himself "Presidente encargado", the commissioned head of state. On this day, he wants to bring the Humanitarian aid to the country, which camps at all borders. 600 tonnes in Colombia, 200 tonnes in Brazil, 250 tonnes in Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles. The relief goods are to save lives, but also overthrow a government that is now no longer recognized by many countries. In the evening there are reports that the first relief supplies arrived in Venezuela.

Early on Saturday morning, the situation on the Venezuelan side of the border escalated. The security forces used tear gas against people who wanted to receive relief supplies along the demarcation line. Protesters threw stones at the security forces. Late last Friday, the government in Caracas had ordered the temporary closure of the border with Colombia in the state of Táchira. Allegedly, Colombia and the US are facing severe aggression, tweeted Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez.

On the other side of the border, Venezuelan opposition politicians marched towards the four official border posts connecting the Colombian department of Norte de Santander with the Venezuelan state of Táchira. Thousands of volunteers in their backs who want to literally carry medicines, medical supplies and food across the border. Here Venezuelans with caps in national colors and wrapped in the blue-yellow-red flag of the country. There Venezuelans in green drillich and with weapons that want to prevent just that. Saturday will only be the start of a long humanitarian corridor, through which people want to bring so much needed help into the country.

photo gallery


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Photo gallery: showdown at the border

While Maduro still has the generals at his side, Guaidó has a large part of the people behind him. Exile Venezuelans from all over Latin America have come to Cúcuta in recent days. But also from Venezuela itself, as Ernesto Araújo. The 54-year-old vegetable grower has left Valera, Trujillo, with his family and friends for Cúcuta.

"We bring in the help on Saturday, overthrow the dictatorship and are free again," he says. Like hundreds of others, he spends the night uncomfortably on a field near the Tienditas Bridge in the "Humanitarian Camp," where people hold a sort of vigil and are animated by politicians throughout the night shouting, "Tomorrow we all eat in Venezuela at noon."

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Ernesto Araujo

Araújo does not know if this will happen so fast: "This dictatorship is a seven life cat," he says. "But at least five have already lost."

It could be that this final Saturday in Cucuta, the final dispute over power in Venezuela has begun. It is guided with tools on one side and weapons on the other. The regime of Maduro has walled itself and its avenging people. The ports, the airspace and the border crossings to Brazil and the Netherlands Antilles are blocked. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino threatened that his soldiers would "prevent any attempt to violate territorial integrity" of Venezuela.

How serious he is, was the day before at far from Cucuta, Bolivar state in southern Venezuela on the border with Brazil clearly: There were two people in clashes with the Venezuelan military killed, at least a dozen were injured. They had tried to prevent the soldiers from closing the border with Brazil.