The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. February 22, 2019 Elliott Abrams Heads to Colombia as Tension Mounts on Venezuelan Border ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In news on Venezuela, the State Department has announced Trump's special envoy, Elliott Abrams, is traveling by military aircraft to the Colombian border as a standoff intensifies on the Venezuelan border. The State Department says Abrams will oversee the delivering of so-called humanitarian aid. This comes as Venezuela's self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó is insisting he will lead a series of aid caravans across the border on Saturday. But Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has rejected the aid efforts, saying they are part of a broader plan to overthrow his regime. Maduro has already ordered the closing of Venezuela's border with Brazil and is considering the closure of its border with Colombia. The United Nations, the Red Cross and other relief organizations have refused to work with the U.S. on delivering aid to Venezuela, which they say is politically motivated. .