News of Venezuelan Army desertions emerges amid standoff on Colombian border

Thousands of Venezuelan soldiers have deserted the nation's armed forces in the last five years, predating calls from caretaker President, Juan Guaido, for soldiers to lay down their weapons.

According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, at least 4,300 national guard officers, around 6% of the guard's ranks, have deserted since 2014, while border guards have been ordered to prevent members of the military and retirees on reserve duty from leaving the country without specific authorisation.

Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan National Assembly leader who is now recognised as the country’s rightful leader by more than 30 governments, has called for more soldiers to desert and passed an amnesty law through the assembly that guarantees no prosecution for members of the military who disobey the current administration.

Some disenchanted members of the military have been seen at protests and last month two dozen guardsmen raided military outposts in Caracas, stealing weapons and holding other soldiers captive as they called on civilians to rise up against Maduro.

Even so, the military remains perhaps the most powerful tool in the President's armoury, with soldiers receiving high level privileges and bonuses in order to retain their loyalty.

The upper echelons of the military remain staunchly supportive of Maduro and committed to the ideology of his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, and a blind eye is turned to military involvement in illicit activities such as smuggling and drug trafficking.

In the meantime, a confrontation has erupted at the Tienditas Bridge on the South American nation's border with Colombia, where those in opposition to Maduro have been attempting to bring in aid such as food and medicine.

Their route into the country has been blocked by loyal Venezuelan security forces, who have dragged freight containers and a tanker trailer into the road to stop vehicles from passing as Maduro has dismissed international aid convoys as a pretext for invasion.

The aid convoys appear to be part of a strategy implemented by Guaido and his US backers, who have placed sanctions on Maduro's regime, allowing the current regime's opposers to claim credit for saving Venezuelans who find themselves in the throes of a humanitarian crisis.

However, these tactics have drawn condemnation from Venezuelan government figures and made aid workers and officials uneasy.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: "When we see the present standoff, it becomes even more clear that serious political negotiations between the parties are necessary. Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or other objectives."

Even so, Guaido has suggested that supplies will make their way to the country through Brazil and a Caribbean island, as well as through Colombia.

Congresswoman Manuela Bolivar, a member of Guaido’s Popular Will party, said: "Venezuela is not an island. There are trails, and thousands of kilometers of territory that the aid could enter through, and we’re also looking at maritime options. You have to generate pressure."

Maduro won a second six-year term in elections held on 20 May, 2018, the result of which was not recognised by most of the country's neighbours, the European Union nor the US.