New York Times: After Years of Denial, Venezuela’s President Allows Aid to Enter
“After denying for years that Venezuelans were suffering a humanitarian crisis, the government allowed the Red Cross to send in 24 tons of medical equipment on Tuesday, marking the beginning of a large-scale relief campaign intended to ease malnutrition and the spread of disease in the crisis-stricken country. … The arrival of the aid shipment constitutes an about-face by [President Nicolás] Maduro’s government, which for years had denied the existence of a humanitarian crisis despite the nation having endured the deepest economic depression in modern history among countries not at war…” (Kurmanaev et al., 4/16).

Reuters: First shipment of Red Cross humanitarian aid arrives in Venezuela
“… ‘The International Red Cross today delivered its first batch of support for Venezuela, together with the revolutionary government that I lead, and it was received in a legal and orderly way, complying with international protocols,’ Maduro said in a speech broadcast on state television. There was little hope that the shipment — intended to help hospitals cope with shortages of equipment and frequent power outages — would be anything more than a palliative measure for Venezuela, where over three million people have fled the chaos of hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine…” (Sequera et al., 4/16).

Additional coverage of the aid shipment and the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is available from the Associated Press, BBC News, Sky News, and Wall Street Journal.