Or how to turn an unopened bridge into an international news story to build support for your coup
Edit: Someone has translated the article into Spanish: Traducción Española
Over the last couple of days, you may have seen an image like this in the news:
Puente Internacional Tienditas en la frontera entre Colombia y Venezuela.
This is Tienditas International Bridge (Spanish: Puente Binacional Tienditas) on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. I have a feeling that we will be seeing much more of this bridge in the news over the coming days.
Venezuela is a country in crisis. More specifically, a presidential crisis. The president since 2013, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected in 2018, but the election is disputed by the opposition. An opposition politician, Juan Guaidó, declared himself as interim president on January 23rd 2019 (despite not having stood in the 2018 election). The US and allies (including my country, the UK) have recognised Guaidó as president. Other countries continue to recognise Maduro as president. It appears that Maduro holds more power within the country, particularly as the military still support him.
The presidential crisis is a symptom of ongoing economic and political difficulties within Venezuela. I won't comment on which side is right or who is to blame for the situation, but I do understand that a lot of people are struggling and suffering.
Comment: