CUCUTA, Colombia _ Venezuelan authorities fired tear gas Saturday at opposition activists on a cross-border bridge here amid escalating tensions over a U.S.-backed plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
Thousands of Venezuelans opposed to the government of President Nicolas Maduro gathered on the Colombian side of several bridges linking Colombia to Venezuela, demanding that aid be let in.
But Venezuelan police and military units maintained their positions on their side of the border.
At least four Venezuelan soldiers defected to Colombia early Saturday, Colombian authorities said, but the large-scale desertions anticipated by the opposition had not materialized by mid-morning.
Behind a cordon of Venezuelan police on the Simon Bolivar International Bridge was a large boisterous group of government supporters dressed in red, the traditional color of Maduro's socialist party.
The pro-government activists also hoisted a giant banner of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, icon of the Cuban revolution, and shouted "No pasaran!," signaling their determination that the aid would not pass.
Opposition activists, at the same time, rallied on the Colombian end of the bridge _ connecting Cucuta with the Venezuelan town of San Antonio _ and shouted "Libertad!" They pleaded with Venezuelan police to defect and let in the cargo of food and medicines.
"Think of your families _ they are starving!" an opposition demonstrator urged a Venezuelan police officer among the security forces posted on the bridge.
Earlier, Venezuelan forces fired tear gas at opposition protesters who tried to remove barriers on a bridge leading to the Venezuelan border town of Urena.
Maduro closed all crossings along the 1,400-mile border with Colombia, and his forces blockaded the bridges leading to this border town. Maduro has also sealed the border with Brazil, where two people were reported killed Friday in clashes between Venezuelan authorities and opposition activists supporting aid deliveries.
Juan Guaido, the opposition leader and self-declared interim president of Venezuela, has insisted that the humanitarian aid will arrive inside Venezuela.
Much of the hundreds of tons of supplies were donated by the United States, which backs Guaido and his efforts to oust Maduro.
The aid has been sitting in warehouses on the Colombian side of the Tienditas bridge between Colombia and Venezuela.
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(Special correspondents Chris Kraul in Bogota, Mery Mogollon in Caracas, Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City and Liliana Nieto Del Rio in Cucuta contributed to this report.
