Guiado Flees to Colombia; Supports Government Coup, Starts Tour of US to Drum Up Support!

Venezuela

The fateful date of February 23, which the impostor Guaido appointed for mass actions in his support, was highly anticipated. Anything could have happened. Like the "unknown" snipers at Euromaidan for example. However, it turned out unexpectedly. The promised never happened, Guaido himself fled the country.

 

First, to Colombia, from where he, backed by the US, wanted to break the Venezuelan border and transport trucks with unidentified cargo under the guise of humanitarian aid. He didn't succeed. He didn't, because the legitimate president of the country rightly fears that inside the case of the humanitarian aid there can be weapons for Guaido's supporters. The riots will turn into an armed one. Maduro doesn't want that. Really, why is there so much determination on the part of those who seized the largest Venezuelan oil company's assets in the USA and seized gold bars, the state financial reserve, at such difficult times for the economy? At the same time, they hypocritically insisted that 4 trucks with flour and whatnot must get to the country from Colombia no matter what. One should be an idiot to believe these intentions are sincere.

Anyway, now, Guaido is wandering outside Venezuela and seeking to meet foreign diplomats and to fly to Washington to get more instructions. He is said to have scheduled a meeting with US Vice President Pence.

In the meantime, legitimate President Maduro is in charge in Venezuela nevertheless. The army remained loyal to him.

In Venezuela and Colombia, on both sides of the border, where the hottest events are going on these days, our reporters Anton Lyadov and Valentin Bogdanov are following the situation.

The foremost truck of the column couldn't advance 600 feet on the bridge dividing Venezuela and Colombia. The National Guard of the Bolivarian Republic blocked the path. The Guard took up their stand behind the shields on their side of the Táchira River. Gunshots were heard.

The first injured appeared on the Simón Bolívar Bridge. This man was shot in the legs with rubber bullets. There's a strong smell of teargas. Some are covering their faces. The ones who attempted to form a living battering ram were injured the most. The Venezuelans who live in Colombia and who responded to Guaido's call to take part in the rally, couldn't clear the way for the trucks. There's another man covered in blood.

Roy Ramirez: "We are being shot, thrown stones at. Maduro's troops have arrived on that side of the river from Caracas. But we'll keep fighting!"

The Venezuelan opposition used boulders... They collected them on the bank and then handing them to the front line via a human chain. The Simón Bolívar Bridge is now the center of the confrontation. Some are trying to ford the river. The Venezuelan border guards are being thrown stones at, they are responding with teargas. This is another bridge, Ureña.

Another part of the caravan moved there. But it didn't work out either. Three trucks attempting to enter Venezuela were burned down. It's still unclear who did it. The Venezuelan National Guard does not use firearms. People tried to pull out the bags and boxes that were inside but they just burned themselves. It's reported that 30 were injured. They left the warehouse of humanitarian aid in a much more elated mood.

At the checkpoint, the trucks were saddled by the Venezuelan refugees from the camp nearby. Maybe, this is a kind of a human shield they are trying to protect the trucks with. American political consultants did a great job perfecting the image. The people sitting on the trucks had white roses... They were given away in bunches. It's a trick tried and tested at many Color Revolutions. Even the slogans are similar.

"We are not afraid. We'll give our lives for Venezuela and its freedom. God's with us!"

The truck drivers were anxious though. Old, mostly USA-made clunkers are a dubious means for an offensive operation. Not everyone believed in the success of the provocation.

Jose Wiliamisal, driver: "It's dangerous indeed. There are a lot of soldiers on that side and we don't know what can happen. But we're going there anyway".

To make the way merrier, the people drawn into the provocation were cheered from the scene of a charity concert the day before. British billionaire Richard Branson brought the greatest, for the locals, stars to provincial Colombian Cúcuta. The main world celebrity there was Luis Fonsi. The song Despacito is translated as "slowly". But Guaido and the Americans were in a hurry. Branson, no matter what reasons he had, came useful in this private-public partnership.

Billionaire Branson though everything through. Latin American pop stars were brought to the warehouse with humanitarian aid from the United States. From here they were sent to the stage and then to this couch so they could not only sing in support of the operation but say a couple words against the Venezuelan authorities as well. First in the newspapers, then in the songs — Composer Pipe Bueno follows this principle.

- Aren't you afraid there can be clashes with the military?

Pipe Bueno, composer: Everything is possible. We don't like it, and we don't want riots on the bridge.

Bueno's place is taken by the organizer of the concert. The owner of the Virgin Corporation promised to collect $10 million, clashed in absentia with fellow countryman Roger Waters from Pink Floyd, and, having got off the couch, was right in front of our camera.

Richard Branson: "I think tomorrow they will go to the bridge. They'll give white roses to the military and I hope it'll help them to open the bridge. We should try. I am a hippie from the 60s. Good music, love — and you will be lucky".

Hippies in the 60s, however, never took sides with people like Trump's special envoy for Venezuela. Hawk Eliot Abrams, who was once expelled from the State Department for supporting death squads and who is involved in the Iran-Contra affair, flew to Cúcuta the day before the attempt of the breakthrough. At the airport, he was met by Colombian President Iván Duque.

- Are you supporting military intervention?

Eliot Abrams: This is humanitarian aid.

- What if the US decides to intervene militarily?

- This is a humanitarian action, a peaceful action, it is a demonstration that diplomacy can surpass all forms of violence.

However, the part about diplomacy didn't work out. Official Caracas has already announced the break of diplomatic relations with Bogotá. The other two guests of Duque, the presidents of Paraguay and Chile, are next apparently. In the morning, they came together to inspect the caravan of trucks. They brought the impostor Guaido with them. Violating the prohibition of the court, he flew to Colombia by helicopter.

There are only 10 trucks with humanitarian aid in the column near the checkpoint. Guaido and his friends apparently believe it's enough to save Venezuela from, as they say, starvation. Guaido, while he was cruising between the office building and the warehouse, was besieged by a crowd of journalists. But we managed to get to him. We asked him whether he understood what he was spurring his compatriots on.

- If they open fire, what will you do?

Juan Guaido: No one will open fire. The Venezuelan people want humanitarian aid and freedom.

- What about the military?

- The military is subject to the Constitution of Venezuela.

The Americans were wisely avoiding the cameras. However, Eliot Abrams secretly inspected the warehouse of humanitarian aid brought by the US Agency for International Development. The man who was chosen to be the face of the coup played the starring part for the journalists. Guaido climbed onto the footboard of the truck. Apparently, he's going to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela personally. But he found the courage only for a few feet. Having gotten off the old truck, he got in a modern SUV. The impostor didn't go under fire and teargas at the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

In the evening, the head of Colombia ordered to get survived truck back from the border. There were almost 300 injured and gassed, 40 were got to hospitals... These are the results of the failed action. Juan Guaido made the same commander as he was a president... A poor one.

Valentin Bogdanov, Ivan Utkin, Denis Lisitsyn, Maya Castelgrande, Vesti Nedeli, Cúcuta, Colombia.