On Friday, February 23, two indigenous people were killed by the Bolivarian National Guard. The woman died immediately and her husband hours later at the hospital. They gave their lives to enable access to the humanitarian aid that was denied by the regime.
As revenge, the indigenous people of the Pemon tribe took over the airport of the border city Santa Elena de Uairén, after setting fire to the GNB checkpoint, after the troops injured more than a dozen Pemones, three of which required surgery due to gunshot wounds.
Two more deaths have been reported on Saturday, the names are not available yet.
Desgarrador testimonio de uno de los pemones heridos, Alberto Delgado, quién manifestó que se enfrentó a la GNB por su abuelo y tío quienes tienen problemas de salud y no tienen recursos para costear todos los gastos. #Venezuela #VenezuelaAidLive #22F #AyudaHumanitaria pic.twitter.com/S2b1lll2wb
— Cristian Crespo F. (@cristiancrespoj) February 22, 2019
Now the airport is in the hands of the natives and, therefore, the prohibition imposed by Nicolas Maduro to stop all humanitarian aid from entering is over.
Now the inhabitants can access basic provisions that are sent from the neighboring nation, also by land.
¡Atención Venezuela!
Anunciamos oficialmente que YA ENTRÓ el primer cargamento de ayuda humanitaria por nuestra frontera con Brasil.
¡Esto es un gran logro, Venezuela!
¡Seguimos! #23FAvalanchaHumanitaria
— Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) February 23, 2019
Since it was a civlian action, the interim president anounced and celebrated the entrance of humanitarian aid as an achievement.
In addition, on Saturday morning, congressman Americo De Grazia informed that the indigenous locals retained members of the army and militia dressed in civilian clothing, among them servicemen who ordered the attack against the natives who were trying to prevent the army from cloing the border crossing yesterday.
The regime’s greatest fear is the possibility that there are shipments of weapons among the humanitarian aid to arm an uprising against the illegitimate Government. That is the main reason they have given to prevent that access to basic goods in a nation where the average citizen has lost around 23 pounds of weight due to the lack of food and medicine.
However, it has been proven that the humanitarian aid cargo carries first aid kits, medicine, food and nutritional supplements for the more than 300,000 Venezuelans who risk death because they are undernourished.
Indigenous peoples have been the most affected by the shortage in Venezuela. In big cities, the Wayú are the largest group that goes through the garbage to eat, since there’s a food shortage.
Also, indigenous women have gone to the border with Colombia to give their children away because they can not feed them.
https://twitter.com/FrancisGarciaP/status/1099337176389689345
Finally, diseases that have been eradicated in the rest of the continent such as measles and poliomyelitis have reappeared in Venezuela, and with the mass migration caused by the local socialist policies, these diseases have spread to neighboring countries, including Ecuador, which declared a national emergency due to the demographic impact that Venezuelan migration has caused.
Because peoples in voluntary isolation peoples are not vaccinated, the massive migration of Venezuelan indigenous people in search of medical assistance has caused an epidemic among the indigenous people on the Brazilian side of the border.
In the case of the Yanomami, for example, who inhabit both sides of the border, in just four months of exposure to Brazilian tribes measles cases went from 0 to 76.
Between January and July of 2018, according to the data provided by the Brazilian Government, 756 cases of measles were reported in the state of Amazonas alone. Also, the capital of the region, Manaus, registered the highest number of suspected cases: 1,441.
But the largest area of conflict today is in the state of Roraima, on the border with Venezuela, where until July, 412 cases of measles were reported.
This has led to cultural clashes and even massive burning of tents that harbor Venezuelan refugess, carried out by angry indigenous peoples in Brazil who are angry at their governments for giving priority to foreigner’s needs.
The confrontation became so widespread that 1,200 Venezuelans were sent back by plane for their own safety.
Now, since the indigenous people took control of the area, the airport is free and the roads are clear. This allowed the first truck with humanitarian aid to enter by land.
ATENCIÓN: Representante diplomática en Brasil @matebe informa que ya un primer camión con ayuda humanitaria logró ingresar a Venezuela. #23Feb pic.twitter.com/AUmGUOP9mx
— Gabriel Bastidas (@Gbastidas) February 23, 2019
María T. Belandria, Ambassador of Venezuela in the Federative Republic of Brazil, who carries a pendant with the map of Venezuela, confirmed the entry of humanitarian aid on social media.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Santa Elena de Uairén demanded for security forces to refrain attacking the indigenous people, arguing that Maduro no longer has power in the country and, therefore, his order to prevent access to humanitarian aid remains nullified.
In short, a grassroots movement, by the people and for the people, overthrew military control and defied the tyrant’s order to release help from abroad.