BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2019) Caracas insists that the possible humanitarian assistance to Venezuela from the European Union must be delivered and distributed exclusively through the United Nations system in order to avoid any politicization of the issue, Venezuela's ambassador to Brussels, Claudia Salerno Caldera, told Sputnik in an interview.
Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced that Caracas agreed to accept over $2.3 billion worth of funding in technical humanitarian aid from the European Union. At the same time, the president has categorically refused to authorize the deliveries of aid sponsored by the United States, which has been one of the most ardent supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido, as he describes the so-called aid as a ploy to oust him from power and a "show" aimed at justifying an intervention into Venezuela.
"On Thursday, February 28, they [EU representatives to International Contact Group on Venezuela, who visited the country last week] will have a meeting at a high technical level, in particular, in order to consider concrete requests for the total amount of $2 billion in order to assess what volume of aid they are ready to provide and via which channels to deliver it," the ambassador said, adding that Caracas wanted to the aid to be delivered through the United Nations system to avoid any politicization of the issue.
On February 23, the Venezuelan opposition tried to forcefully bring the US-sponsored aid into Venezuela from Brazil and Colombia. The failed attempt resulted in clashes between the Venezuelan National Guard officers, who prevented trucks with aid from crossing the country's border without permission, and pro-aid protesters, who tried to help force the aid into Venezuela.�
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said that international law provided for deliveries of foreign humanitarian aid only in cases of natural disasters and armed conflicts and denied the allegations of humanitarian crisis in the country.
