Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela

Caracas, March 30 (IANS) The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has announced that it would have unhindered access to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela soon, the media reported.

The Red Cross will have the "legal and technical conditions" to start humanitarian aid deliveries to Venezuela within a month, CNN quoted Red Cross President Francesco Rocca as saying at a press conference here on Friday.

Rocca said the goal of the Red Cross was to start delivering aid to 650,000 people within 20 days, and stressed that the delivery will be a technical operation, not a political one.

The Red Cross is open to accepting aid from various countries and donors as long as those donations meet the charity's standards for impartiality and neutrality, he said.

When asked why it took the Red Cross so long to deliver aid, Rocca said there have been various negotiations with "government institutions, and social, humanitarian and political organisations" in the country as the delivery had to be done through legal means.

The Red Cross was granted permission to bring aid into Venezuela after personal meetings with President Nicolas Maduro and Venezuelan National Assembly head Juan Guaido, an informed source told CNN on Friday.

It has been more than two months since Guaido declared himself interim president but Maduro shows no signs of losing the critical support of elites and the military.

Meanwhile most of the South American nation's residents live in poverty.

Rampant inflation and food scarcity have gripped Venezuela and thousands have fled to neighbouring countries as shortages, political turmoil and crime rates have soared.

Major blackouts have also hit the country lately.