Crisis in Venezuela: "We have flags, and they have guns"

It is close to 1 pm when the Francisco de Paula Santander border crossing suddenly bursts with jubilation. On the narrow pedestrian bridge over the border river Táchira, four trucks are approaching with relief supplies, countless volunteers hang on the sides and on the roof, they cheer, whistle and wave the Venezuelan flag. They are only a few meters from the border.

Since early morning, dozens of civilians have faced hundreds of Venezuelan security forces at the border crossing in the Escobal district of Cúcuta, Colombia. It was and is a nervous war. "Únanse", call people on the Colombian side. "Join".

Face to face, the Venezuelans face each other on both sides, begging one, begging and falling to their knees. But the security forces are standing tight, stoic and for hours; defy the psychic pressure and blazing sun in their combat gear with gas masks and shields. Only two policewomen are unable to withstand the pressure during the morning and run to the other side of the border in tears.

But one meter of security forces back, it almost seems as if they wanted to give up. But when the longed for vices arrive at just before one o'clock, their patience is over: rubber bullets and tear gas bombs fly, the demonstrators run back in panic to the Colombian side, paramedics of the Colombian police drag several injured people out of the crowd. One is injured in the head, another has a wound in his chest. A third party is unconscious. The trucks and the relief supplies are only once before the border.

Analysts fear armed conflict with Colombia

For the time being, therefore, the wall of the incumbent head of state Nicolás Maduro holds. Until the afternoon of Saturday, no truck with the much needed relief supplies crossed the border to Venezuela. Not in Cucuta, not in Pacaraima in Brazil. Also, the help on the island of Curacao is stuck.

Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed transitional president, had declared this day "D-Day", the day the aid should come to the country. "Sí o Sí" - without ifs and buts. So far, however, he has not been able to keep his promise.

Meanwhile, the autocratic ruler Maduro celebrates feisty in far-off Caracas in front of thousands of supporters and demolishes demonstratively the diplomatic relations with the government of President Iván Duque in Bogotá.

The "Fascist government of Colombia" actively supported Guaidó's foreign relief supplies to Venezuela, Maduro said at the rally. Therefore all diplomatic representatives of the neighboring country would have to leave Venezuela within 24 hours. Analysts like Carlos Alberto Montaner fear now that it could come to an armed conflict between the two states.

"We have to fight back"

At the Francisco de Paula Santander border crossing in Cúcuta, the fury of the Venezuelans is rising. Hundreds have come from Barquisimeto, from Maracaibo, from Caracas, from many corners of Venezuela to accompany the much needed food and medicines across the border.

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Marlón Sánchez said, "It does not work, we have to fight back, we have flags and they have rifles, the problem can only be solved with lead," says the 38-year-old businessman from Colón, in short behind the Colombian border. "If we do not get Maduro and his mafia away now, they'll be forty years left."

Police set truck with relief supplies on fire

Shortly thereafter, three out of four lorries with relief supplies go up in flames on the border bridge. Units of the Venezuelan police set the trailers on fire, the smoke can be seen throughout Cucuta. Burn medicines, food and toiletries worth thousands of euros.

Now the gloomiest predictions of this crucial day, politically charged, are coming true. The Venezuelan police, the National Guard and the army are shooting at everything and everyone who approaches the border too close to a truck.

Also on the Venezuelan side, the security forces are using force against people who wanted to the border to receive the help. The security forces are reportedly supported by the "Colectivos", the paramilitary motorcycle gang fighting on the side of the Maduro government. Eyewitnesses report that they shot at demonstrators with live ammunition.

According to the Colombian immigration authorities, more than members of various Venezuelan units are deserting this Saturday. Some of them leave Venezuela with their families. Guaidó congratulates the deserters on choosing the "right side of history". He assures them amnesty.

Meanwhile, the first political observers are already wondering what the future of the opposition's 35-year-old hopefuls is. Guaidó, who left Venezuela on Friday despite a court-ordered ban on leaving the country, risked arrest on his return to Caracas. Guaidó had said on Friday in Cucuta that he would return to Venezuela by plane and hinted that until then Maduro had been overthrown by food aid and deserting troops. After that it does not look like it at the moment.