COLOMBIA: Santos Rebuts Maduro On Medical Blockade

(RTTNews) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos strongly rejected recent statements made by his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, on an alleged Bogotá's blockade to the sale of medicines to Caracas.

"This is false," Santos rebuffed. "On the contrary, we have offered him humanitarian aid in the matter of food and medicines for a long time, which the Venezuelan government has refused."

Santos also accused Maduro of not realizing that Venezuelans are suffering from lack of food and dying due to lack of medicines.

"Allow, President Maduro, that the international community helps the Venezuelan people, in this time of serious crisis, a crisis caused by the regime and not by Colombia or external factors as so many times was hinted," said the president.

Santos and Maduro share a tense relationship that has worsened in recent times due to the crisis in Venezuela, which has affected Colombia due to the massive influx of Venezuelans and the departure of basic goods to Venezuela, causing shortages in some border towns.