CARACAS - Venezuelan troops will remain
stationed along the country's borders to prevent territorial
violations, the defense minister said on Tuesday, ahead of the
opposition's plan to bring in humanitarian aid to alleviate an
economic crisis.
President Nicolas Maduro has rejected offers of foreign food
and medicine, denying there are widespread shortages and
accusing opposition leader Juan Guaido of using aid to undermine
his government in a U.S.-orchestrated bid to oust him.
Guaido has said that aid will enter Venezuela from
neighboring countries by land and sea on Saturday. The United
States has sent tons of aid to Colombia's border with Venezuela,
but Maduro has refused to let it in.
In comments broadcast on state TV, Defense Minister Vladimir
Padrino said the opposition would have to pass over "our dead
bodies" to impose a new government. Guaido, who has invoked the
constitution to assume an interim presidency, denounces Maduro
as illegitimate and has received backing from some 50 countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned members of
Venezuela's military who remain loyal to Maduro that they would
"find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out."
"You'll lose everything," Trump told a crowd of Venezuelan
and Cuban immigrants in Miami.
Guaido has beseeched the armed forces to disavow Maduro,
promising them future amnesty, though only a few high-ranking
military officials have so far done so.
Padrino said it was unacceptable for the military to receive
threats from Trump, and said officers and soldiers remained
"obedient and subordinate" to Maduro.
"They will never accept orders from any foreign government
... they will remain deployed and alert along the borders, as
our commander in chief has ordered, to avoid any violations of
our territory's integrity," Padrino said.
"Those that attempt to be president here in Venezuela ...
will have to pass over our dead bodies," he said, referring to
Guaido.
Maduro, who won a second term last year in an election that
critics denounced as a sham, retains the backing of Russia and
China and control of Venezuelan state institutions.