BOGOTA, Colombia _ It's a battle of the bands with global implications.
On Friday, some of Latin America's hottest artists will be playing a benefit concert in Cucuta, Colombia, in hopes of pressuring Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to accept tons of humanitarian aid. The initiative, called Venezuela Aid Live, hopes to raise more than $100 million and is being organized by British billionaire Richard Branson.
But that same day, just a few miles over the dusty border, the Maduro administration is planning its own concert. He's vowing to block the international aid and, in turn, send Venezuelan food and doctors into Colombia.
The dueling events are the latest power play by Maduro opposition leader President Juan Guaido, who are both fighting for leadership over the troubled South American nation. And the outcome of the weekend concerts could determine how soon _ if ever _ a political transition in the country might occur.
On a recent weekday, Bruno Ocampo was rushing around the Colombian town of Cucuta helping organize the last-minute concert that is expected to attract as many as 150,000 people. Ocampo said that about eight weeks ago Branson, the charismatic founder of the Virgin Group, started asking how he could assist with the Venezuelan crisis. But the idea of a border concert only gelled about three weeks ago when Branson got on the phone with Guaido and jailed Venezuelan politician Leopoldo Lopez.
Since then, Ocampo said more than 200 people have been working around the clock to produce the spectacle, which is slated to include Carlos Vives, Juanes, Juan Luis Guerra, Luis Fonsi (of Despacito fame) and Alejandro Sanz, among others. Colombian President Ivan Duque and other regional leaders are also expected at the event.
"This is going to be a historic event with all of these international artists who are donating their time for the love of music and the love of Venezuela," Ocampo said.
But the concert also has a potent political message. Organizers, and Branson himself, have said the event is intended to goad Maduro into allowing tons of international aid into the country that's sitting at a warehouse on the outskirts of Cucuta. On Saturday, the day after the concert, Guaido has said an "avalanche" of his supporters might turn up at the border to shuttle the food and medical supplies over the porous frontier.
Maduro says there's no humanitarian crisis in his country and that the aid _ some of which was brought to Cucuta on U.S. military flights _ is little more than a "show" to make his administration look bad and, perhaps, provide cover for a coup attempt against him. He's blocked the international bridge closest to the aid warehouse and sent troops to the border to keep it from entering.
It's high stakes for both men. Guaido needs to prove that he can be effective even if he has no real power. And Maduro needs to show that he still commands the loyalty of his troops.
But Maduro is also fighting back in the propaganda war. Earlier this week, the administration said it would be holding its own "Concert for Peace" just across the border to warn Washington to "keep its hands off Venezuela."
"There are so many artists from Venezuela and around the world who want to participate in this message of love, in this message of rejection of imperial aggression," Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said. He also announced that some 20,000 boxes of subsidized food, or CLAP boxes, would be delivered in the Colombian town of Cucuta and that health brigades would provide free medical care there as a show of "solidarity" for the "Colombian people who are suffering the consequences of savage neo-liberalism."
That Maduro would try to flip the script is aggravating to many.
Aneida Gomez, a 63-year-old housewife, had traveled for 18 hours from eastern Venezuela to Cucuta in hope of selling enough candy to buy "real food" _ fruits and vegetables _ to take home. She called Maduro a "liar" for downplaying the crisis back home.
"People are leaving because they don't want to starve to death," she said, as she watched people swarm over an international bridge close to where the concert will be held. "That's the pure and simple truth."
Some are also wondered about the caliber of musicians that Maduro's concert might attract, as his government finds itself increasingly isolated internationally.
"I don't know what artists might be at that concert," Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio quipped on Monday.
Ocampo called the rival concert a "burla" _ a bad joke _ but invited Venezuelans to cross the border and catch the acts.
"We hope that both sides will enjoy the music peacefully," he said, "and that Maduro understands that his country needs democracy."
