Venezuela power struggle turns to music at aid concert

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Thousands of Venezuelans joined migrants in neighboring Colombia to attend a star-studded concert backing the opposition in Venezuela’s power struggle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They sought to pressure President Nicolas Maduro into allowing the delivery of emergency food and medicine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On the Venezuelan side&comma; government workers assembled a smaller stage for a rival&comma; three-day Hands Off Venezuela concert being organized by Maduro&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even as several million Venezuelans flee the country and those who remain struggle to find basic goods like food and antibiotics&comma; the embattled president claims the relief effort led by opposition leader Juan Guaido is a US orchestrated ploy to oust him from power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>An optimistic mood as the concert opened in the Colombian border city of Cucuta could not mask underlying tensions a day before Maduro’s opponents embark on a risky strategy to undermine him and bring in the aid being amassed for days along three of Venezuela’s borders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thousands of miles away&comma; near a crossing with Brazil&comma; a member of an indigenous tribe was killed and 12 more injured in clashes with security forces who enforced Maduro’s orders to keep out the aid&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">It&&num;39&semi;s been almost five hours since this ride started&period; We&&num;39&semi;ve listened and danced to many artists&comma; and as time goes by WE KEEP RECEIVING DONATIONS&excl; And you can donate as well&comma; don&&num;39&semi;t think too much about it&period; Here 👉 <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;64D8EcbimL">https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;64D8EcbimL<&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;AidVenezuela&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&num;AidVenezuela<&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;AyudaVenezuela&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&num;AyudaVenezuela<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; Aid Live Foundation &lpar;&commat;aidlivefoundati&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;aidlivefoundati&sol;status&sol;1099061679852277760&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">February 22&comma; 2019<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hours before the concert began&comma; dozens of Venezuelans hiked across the border through high bushes on an unmarked trail&period; They carried ice boxes&comma; snacks and water and whispered directions as they kept a close eye out for Venezuelan soldiers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This concert happens once in a lifetime&comma;”<&sol;em> 19-year-old Shirley Duran said&period; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It will be a great opportunity for so many poor people who are suffering under the heat&comma; who are hungry&comma; jobless&period; At last they’ll have something to enjoy&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>British tycoon Sir Richard Branson organised the concert&comma; which featured dozens of Latin musicians on a giant stage on one side of a bridge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Facing it on the other side of the bridge sat a giant shipping container and tanker that Maduro’s government has placed there to prevent the delivery of US-supplied food and medical kits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As Venezuela’s political turmoil drags on&comma; allies of Guaido&comma; who the US and dozens of other countries have recognised as Venezuela’s rightful leader&comma; hope the massive concert in Cucuta will set the stage for the smooth delivery Saturday of the aid and a turning point in their quest for a transitional government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the concert venue&comma; the feeling was one of collective catharsis&comma; especially for migrants who in recent years have fled Venezuela’s economic implosion by crossing into Colombia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Under a scorching sun&comma; concertgoers waved Venezuelan flags&comma; squirted water at each other and swayed to music by marquee artists including Argentina’s Diego Torres as well as a host of Venezuelan performers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reymar Perdomo&comma; a Venezuelan street singer who rose to fame for a video which went viral showing her singing on buses in Peru&comma; kicked off the concert with her signature song&comma; Me Fui&comma; Spanish for I Left&comma; which has become the unofficial anthem of the mass exodus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Perdomo said performing so close to the border brought back painful memories&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A little over a year ago I crossed this border and was robbed of my luggage and all my money&comma;”<&sol;em> she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;But I know in this moment that there will be change because Venezuelans want it and they are showing it today&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sir Richard Branson has set a goal to raise 100 million dollars &lpar;£77 million&rpar; for Venezuelans in need within 60 days&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said he got the idea after brainstorming with Guaido and his political mentor&comma; Leopoldo Lopez&comma; who is under house arrest for leading protests against Maduro in 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"twitter-tweet" data-width&equals;"550" data-dnt&equals;"true">&NewLine;<p lang&equals;"en" dir&equals;"ltr">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are on a bridge&period; Today we want to build a bridge of hope&quot&semi; — <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;richardbranson&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&commat;RichardBranson<&sol;a>&period; I’m so proud of my dad and everyone involved in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;hashtag&sol;VenezuelaAidLive&quest;src&equals;hash&amp&semi;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">&num;VenezuelaAidLive<&sol;a>&period; You can live stream the concert all around the world&comma; right now&colon; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;admXOC4LAe">https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;admXOC4LAe<&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;t&period;co&sol;gTaQCG9nql">pic&period;twitter&period;com&sol;gTaQCG9nql<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&mdash&semi; Holly Branson &lpar;&commat;HollyBranson&rpar; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;HollyBranson&sol;status&sol;1098968412825489409&quest;ref&lowbar;src&equals;twsrc&percnt;5Etfw">February 22&comma; 2019<&sol;a><&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;platform&period;twitter&period;com&sol;widgets&period;js" charset&equals;"utf-8"><&sol;script><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If we can take people to space why is it so hard to take people out of poverty&quest;”<&sol;em> he said&comma; opening the concert before a cheering crowd&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We must break the impasse and end the humanitarian crisis&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2e3f79487">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; 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