INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By Emily Mee, news reporter Venezuela has accepted its first shipment of humanitarian aid from the Red Cross, after the government spent
beginning an operation to deliver medicine and supplies to the crisis-stricken city.Elsewhere in the downtown neighbourhood of Catia,
government supporters fired gunshots into the air as a van rumbled through the streets to distribute water purification tablets and plastic
jugs."We're very happy," said motorcycle taxi driver Sergio Guerra, adding: "With these tablets we can defend ourselves a little better by
drinking cleaner water."Venezuela has been locked in a power struggle for the last three months, after opposition leader Juan Guiado
declared himself interim president.Image:A woman carries a water container in CaracasThe delivery of aid has been the focal point of feuding
between Guiado and socialist leader President Nicolas Maduro, who had fiercely opposed accepting the humanitarian assistance.Tuesday's aid
delivery suggests a recognition by Maduro that the country is embroiled in a humanitarian crisis - something he had vehemently dismissed as
opposition propaganda.The shipment included 14 power generators, 5,000 litres of water and three surgery equipment kits which can treat
10,000 patients each.More than three million people have fled the country to escape hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and
medicine, which has left many without access to treatment for everything from minor infections to cancer.According to United Nations
estimates, a quarter of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, with 300,000 lives at risk due to lack of medicine and 1.9m
people suffering from malnutrition.Hospitals in the country are often without essential supplies and are forced to ask patients to supply
surgical gear and medicine.Image:Red Cross aid trucks move towards the capital of CaracasA report by Human Rights Watch and the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health warned that Venezuela's health system is in "utter collapse", citing high numbers of infant and
maternal deaths, increased levels of child malnutrition and the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases.Last month, the Red Cross announced
it would start delivering aid to about 650,000 people and would not accept interference from either political side.The president of the
Venezuelan Red Cross said it would be "distributed in conformance with the fundamental principles of our movement, especially neutrality,
impartiality and independence."Image:Supplies provided included 5,000 litres of water, 14 power generators and three surgery equipment
kitsHe added: "Our mandate is to help save lives".Opposition leader Juan Guiado blamed Maduro's government for allowing the health crisis to
get out of control, saying "Aid is entering because they destroyed the health system
It entered because we demanded it."However Maduro attempted to claim credit for the aid delivery, saying his government had co-ordinated it
in line with "international protocols".
