Aid shipment enters Venezuela via Brazil border: Juan Guaido

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Gauido announced Saturday that the first shipment of humanitarian aid had entered Venezuela through its border with Brazil, defying a blockade by President Nicolas Maduro.

"Attention Venezuela: We officially announce that the first shipment of humanitarian aid has now entered our border with Brazil. This is a great achievement, Venezuela!" wrote Guaido in a tweet.

Humanitarian aid has become the centrepiece of the stand-off between Maduro and Guaido, the 35-year-old leader of Venezuela's National Assembly who declared himself interim president exactly one month ago sparking a President legitimacy crisis in the country.

Guaido also called the Maduro's 2018 reelections invalid and the body that elevated him.

However, Maduro's government says, the current crisis is a coup attempt led by the United States to topple him and control the country's vast oil reserves.

Venezuela is gripped by a humanitarian crisis that has seen poverty soar during years of recession.

As many as 300,000 Venezuelans are in dire need of food and medicine after years of shortages and malnutrition, according to Guaido.

United Nations figures show that some 2.7 million people have fled Venezuela since 2015 amid the crisis, and some 5,000 Venezuelans emigrate from their country each day.
 

(With inputs from news agencies)