Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido set a goal Sunday of enlisting a million volunteers within a week to confront a government blockade that has kept tons of humanitarian aid, most of it from the United States, from flowing into the country.
Guaido has given February 23 -- one month to the day after he proclaimed himself acting president -- as the date for a showdown over the aid with the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Food supplies, hygiene kits and nutritional supplements have been stockpiled near the Venezuelan border in Cucuta, Colombia.
Additional storage centers are supposed to open this week in Brazil and Curacao, a Dutch island off Venezuela's northern Caribbean coast.
"Our principal task is to reach a million volunteers by February 23," Guaido said in a message to the 600,000 supporters who have signed up so far for the push to bring aid in.
He said the volunteers would gather at designated points, or participate on social media, but has kept to himself how he plans to overcome the obstacles put up by the Venezuelan military, on Maduro's orders.
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Maduro, who denies the existence of a humanitarian crisis, dismisses the opposition moves as a "political show" and a cover for a US invasion.
An imploding economy has driven an estimated 2.3 Venezuelans to migrate, while those who remain have been punished by hyperinflation that has put scarce food and medicine out of reach for many.
At Guaido's request, groups of volunteers were holding town hall-style meetings at various locations around the country to begin organizing for the February 23 event.
"Venezuela is preparing for the humanitarian avalanche," Guaido told about 4,000 supporters clad in white T-shirts and green scarves who gathered Saturday to sign up as volunteers.
The throng included doctors, nurses and students.
Without revealing details that could jeopardize the operation, Guaido said volunteer brigades will travel in a bus caravan to entry points for the aid. Coromoto Crespo, 58, told AFP he volunteered because of the urgent need for supplies.
"To find medicines requires a miracle. I need tablets for high blood pressure, and what I find, I can't pay for," Crespo said.
"One of my relatives died because of a lack of antibiotics."
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