Nicolas Maduro

Juan Guaido

Medical equipment and surgical kits will be part of the shipment, as will power generators. The country suffered through a weeklong blackout recently and another daylong blackout just a few days ago. Both blackouts affected people around the country.

The aid will reach Venezuela in two weeks, said the president of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Francesco Rocca. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro agreed to allow the shipment enter the country, Rocca said.

Maduro had blocked entry of an earlier shipment of food and medicine because it was provided and supported by the United States. Army troops had blocked the country's borders with Brazil and Colombia, refusing to welcome trucks filled with food and medicine, instead setting some trucks on fire. Most of the trucks left the area, their aid undelivered.

Maduro has made public speeches recently claiming that the U.S. is poised to invade Venezuela and remove him from power. The U.S. recently imposed crippling sanctions against Maduro's government, restricting the oil trade that is vital to the country's economy. Also, the U.S. and several other of the world's leading countries have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the valid ruler of the country. Guaido invoked an obscure part of the country's constitution to declare himself President earlier in the year. Maduro was recently re-elected to a second six-year term in an election marked by boycotts by opposition parties. In opposition to the support for Guaido, Russia, China, and other countries have declared their support for Maduro. To support this claim, Russia sent a detachment of troops and military equipment to support Maduro's forces. Some high-ranking army officials have defected, pledging their support go Guaido, in recent weeks; the majority, however, remain loyal to Maduro. Ratcheting up the tension between the two men, Maduro recently announced a 15-year ban on Guaido's holding political office. Guaido is currently the leader of the National Assembly, which, until 2017, was the country's highest lawmaking body.

In response to the latest blackout, large groups of people gathered in Caracas, the capital, to protest the situation. Guaido, speaking at a rally in the capital, said that Maduro was to blame for the blackouts. Maduro, by contrast, blamed terrorists for attacking the Guri hydroelectric dam, which supplies power to much of the country.