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A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 23 February 2019

Venezuela power struggle turns to music at aid concert

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO
LUIS ANDRES HENAO
Associated Press
CUCUTA, Colombia (AP)
— Thousands of Venezu-
elans, including some who
slipped across the border,
joined migrants in neigh-
boring Colombia to attend
a star-studded concert
backing the opposition in
Venezuela’s power strug-
gle and seeking to pressure
President Nicolas Maduro
into allowing the delivery
of emergency food and
medicine.
On the Venezuelan side,
government workers as-
sembled a smaller stage for
a rival, three-day “Hands
Off Venezuela” concert
being organized by Mad- Concert goers unfurl their Venezuelan flags during the Venezuela Aid Live concert on the Colombian side of the Tienditas Interna-
uro. Even as several million tional Bridge near Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela Friday, Feb. 22, 2019.
Venezuelans flee the coun- Associated Press
try and those who remain the heat, who are hungry, elan performers. senior analyst with the In- nounced that not only
struggle to find basic goods jobless. At last they’ll have Reymar Perdomo, a Ven- ternational Crisis Group would they hold a rival festi-
like food and antibiotics, something to enjoy.” ezuelan street singer who based in Caracas, said of val but that they would also
the embattled president British billionaire Richard rose to fame for a video Maduro’s rival concert. “It’s deliver over 20,000 boxes of
claims the relief effort led Branson organized the Live went viral showing her sing- a propaganda war.” food for poor Colombians
by opposition leader Juan Aid-style concert, which ing on buses in Peru, kicked As if to highlighting those in Cucuta on Friday and
Guaido is a U.S. orches- features dozens of Latin off the concert with her risks, a woman from the Saturday.
trated ploy to oust him from musicians on a giant stage signature song, “Me Fui,” combative Pemon tribe The sharp rhetoric from
power. on one side of a bridge. Spanish for “I left,” which identified as Zoraida Rodri- both sides has put many in
An optimistic mood as Facing it on the other side has become the unofficial guez died in clashes near this border city of 700,000
the Live Aid-style concert of the bridge, sits a giant anthem of the mass exo- the border with Brazil. on edge.
opened in the Colombi- shipping container and dus. There was no immediate in- Paola Quintero, an activist
an border city of Cucuta tanker that Maduro’s gov- Perdomo said perform- formation on the condition for Venezuelan migrants,
couldn’t mask underlying ernment has placed there ing so close to the bor- of the injured, though tele- said that while the concert
tensions a day before Mad- to prevent the delivery der brought back painful vision news showed images has had a positive, short-
uro’s opponents embark of U.S.-supplied food and memories.“A little over a of three men on gurneys term impact on Cucuta’s
on a risky strategy to under- medical kits. year ago I crossed this bor- being treated for bloody economy, many are wor-
mine Maduro and bring in As Venezuela’s political der and was robbed of my wounds. Local officials said ried about what might
the aid being amassed for turmoil drags on, allies of luggage and all my mon- soldiers fired rubber bullets happen Saturday when
days along three of Ven- Guaido, who the U.S. and ey,” she said. “But I know in and tear gas. thousands try to move aid
ezuela’s borders. dozens of other countries this moment that there will Much like the original 1985 across the border.
Thousands of kilometers have recognized as Ven- be change because Ven- Live Aid concert, which “What awaits those who
away, near a crossing with ezuela’s rightful leader, are ezuelans want it and they raised funds to relieve the will be on the bridge, trying
Brazil, a member of an in- hoping the massive con- are showing it today.” Ethiopian famine, Branson to get aid through?” she
digenous tribe was killed cert in Cucuta will set the The plan to bring in aid is has set a goal to raise $100 said.Venezuelans like Rosa
and 12 more injured in stage for the smooth de- one of the most ambitious million for Venezuelans in Mora, 40, said they were
clashes with security forces livery Saturday of the aid — and potentially danger- need within 60 days. He still debating whether to
who enforced Maduro’s or- and a turning point in their ous — that the opposition said he got the idea after heed the opposition’s call
ders to keep out the aid. quest for a transitional gov- has attempted to under- brainstorming with Guaido for a mass mobilization at
Hours before the concert ernment. take since Guaido de- and his political mentor, three bridges in the Cucuta
began, dozens of Venezu- At the concert venue, the clared himself interim presi- Leopoldo Lopez, who is un- area Saturday, fearful that
elans hiked across the bor- feeling was one of collec- dent in January. der house arrest for leading they might be met with re-
der through high bushes tive catharsis, especially But Maduro has shown no protests against Maduro in sistance by the military.
on an unmarked trail. They for migrants who in recent signs of backing down, and 2014. “I’m terrified of what’s go-
carried ice boxes, snacks years have fled Venezu- analysts warn that whatev- “If we can take people to ing to happen,” she con-
and water and whispered ela’s economic implosion er happens over the next space why is it so hard to fided.
directions as they kept a by crossing into Colom- two days may not yield a take people out of pov- Still, when she thinks about
close eye out for Venezu- bia. Under a scorching conclusive victory for either erty?” Branson said, open- her children and a sister
elan soldiers. sun, those in attendance side. ing the concert before a with diabetes that has
“This concert happens waved Venezuelan flags, “I think one of the govern- cheering crowd. “We must gone untreated for the last
once in a lifetime,” 19-year- squirted water at each oth- ment’s aims is to confuse break the impasse and end year, she leans toward par-
old Shirley Duran said. “It er and swayed to music by the whole thing, possibly to the humanitarian crisis.” ticipating.
will be a great opportunity marquee artists including create some kind of chaos Days after Branson “It won’t be for me,”
for so many poor people Argentina’s Diego Torres that makes the opposition launched his concert, she said. “But for our
who are suffering under as well as a host of Venezu- look bad,” Phil Gunson, a Maduro’s government an- children.”q