CARACAS – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has announced he was closing the border with Brazil from last night as a row over foreign humanitarian aid continues.
The embattled leftist leader went on TV to say that he was also considering shutting the border with Colombia to stop the opposition bringing in relief.
He denies any crisis and calls the aid delivery plans a United States-orchestrated show.
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó is leading a convoy to the Colombian border from the capital Caracas.
Guaidó declared himself interim leader during antigovernment protests last month and is recognised by dozens of foreign states.
Scuffles broke out and tear gas was fired when the convoy of buses and cars was stopped by security forces on a road near Mariara, west of Caracas, but they later moved on.
Guaidó and his allies hope to collect food and medicine in defiance of Maduro.
The Venezuelan military has so far managed to block shipments of US aid from across the border with Colombia.
Despite denying there is any humanitarian crisis, Maduro announced this week that 300 tonnes of aid would be shipped to Venezuela from its ally Russia.
(BBC)
