18-04-19: Latin American Weekly Report

Venezuela began to receive humanitarian aid from the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on 16 April. Just two days earlier,
during a visit to Cúcuta, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, had urged
the de facto president Nicolás Maduro to “open these bridges, open these
borders” to allow in humanitarian aid stockpiled in the Colombian border
city for two months. This, however, is not the humanitarian aid that
Maduro wants. While there are hopes that the ICRC assistance will help to
alleviate some of the most pressing needs of the population, Venezuela’s
crisis continues to have a major impact on many countries in the region
and, for different reasons, on two in particular: Colombia and Cuba.