(Daily Mail)
Julian Robinson 22 February 2019 05:17
One person has been killed and 12 are injured after Venezuelan troops opened fire on civilians trying to keep a border checkpoint open for aid deliveries.
Troops arrived at a checkpoint set up by an indigenous community in Kumarakapai, on Venezuela's southern border with Brazil early this morning.
But when civilians tried to block a convoy of tanks, soldiers opened fire killing a woman named as Zorayda Rodriguez, 42, and wounding 12 others. Gran Sabana Mayor Emilio Gonzalez said soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas and the injured people were taken for medical treatment.
The villagers are believed to have been trying to keep open a section of the border so that aid could be moved into the area from Brazil. President Nicolas Maduro ordered the frontier with the country shut yesterday and is now considering shutting the border with Colombia.
Maduro is closing off his country to the West as his opposition rival Juan Guaido attempts to claim power having declared himself interim president, vowing to personally bring in US humanitarian aid on Saturday.
Russia has accused the US of using aid deliveries to Venezuela as a ploy to carry out military action against Maduro's government. The Kremlin's Foreign Ministry said America had deployed special forces and equipment near the South American nation and accused Washington of an instigating a 'dangerous provocation'.
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