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“For a person with a normal menstrual cycle, that is only two weeks after a missed period,” Dyana Limon-Mercado, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, said in a statement. “When you factor in the time it takes to confirm a pregnancy, consider your options and make a decision, schedule an appointment and comply with all the restrictions politicians have already put in place for patients and providers, a six-week ban essentially bans abortion outright.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/19/texas-abortion-law-abbott/

São Paulo – Arab companies which took part of the supermarket sector’s fair, Apas, finished this Thursday (8th), in São Paulo, promise to come back to the event next year. Invited to present their products at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce’s stand at Expo Center Norte, the exhibitors stated that the show offered the opportunity to reach a large number of purchasing public and to meet with people capable of deciding or not on the closing of deals.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Arab products in exhibition

 “Apas is a great opportunity for companies from Tunisia and other Arab countries to show their products and learn about the food consumed in Brazil and Latin America. It is also an opportunity for them to meet clients and distributors in Brazil. This was our first time at the fair, but it will not be the last”, said the Middle East and Africa Exporters Association (Maex)’s general-secretary, Zied Jaouadi.

Maex is based in Tunisia. At the event, Jaouadi presented dates produced in the country to visitors. He has already been to another Brazilian fair, Sial, last year.

The businessman suggested that in the next edition the fair organizers should bring together companies from other Arab countries and Brazilian suppliers to discuss business opportunities. “It would be a way to promote exports and imports”, said Jaouadi.

Chairman of the Egyptian company Elmokkadem Co. for Export and Import, Mohamed El Mokkadem came to Apas to show products such as potato snacks, dates, flavoring, among others. Besides looking for clients, he met with companies which are willing to export to Egypt.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Khoury (left): Lebanese olive oil

 “The Brazilian market was unknown to us and we learn a little about it every day. I think I will be able to do business with the companies from here because my products are interesting to the Egyptian consumers and vice-versa. Dates are not grown here, for example, and there we don’t have tropical fruit we can find here. Brazil is also very technologically advanced in food processing. I would like to take this technology to Egypt. There will be even more opportunities in the next edition”, he said.

During Apas, Mokkadem met with a candy company from Brazil that wishes to import flavoring components. He may also buy fruit for Egypt. “For now it is time for Brazilian fruit, which have a large market in Europe, to be shipped. The price is a little high, so we have to wait for it to lower”, he said.

Owner of the importer and exporter Comercial Khoury, Amin Khoury, expects to close deals with the contacts he met at the fair. He exports to Brazil the olive oil Nasr, manufactured by his relatives in Lebanon. “Two olive oil specialists tasted our product and said it is very good. They will recommend it to their clients. Besides that, I have established import contacts with supermarkets in the São Paulo countryside and other states”, he said.

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

Source Article from http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia/21863688/business-opportunities/arabs-promise-to-come-back-to-apas-in-2015/

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Martes, 28 de Abril 2015  |  11:27 am



Créditos: RPP/Carlos Lora

Durante un concierto en Mxico, el cantante mostr una extraa actitud. Mira el video aqu.








El cantante Luis Miguel ofreció un concierto en Aguascalientes, México donde deslumbró a los asistentes pero no precisamente con su voz.

El mexicano estaba muy alegre, incluso bailó, le sacó los anteojos al guitarrista, se los puso, se tiró al piso y terminó boca arriba.

La pregunta no demoró en aparecer: ¿estaba borracho? Los más críticos dicen que sí. Incluso en febrero se suspendió un show. El organizador dijo en aquella oportunidad que fue por  “estar en su habitación emborrachándose y drogándose”.








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Source Article from http://www.rpp.com.pe/2015-04-28–luis-miguel-borracho-en-pleno-concierto-noticia_791970.html

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images


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Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images

The day after former Vice President Joe Biden recalled his “civil” and productive working relationships decades ago with two longtime segregationist and racist fellow lawmakers, fellow Democrats are pouncing.

At a New York City fundraiser Tuesday night, Biden told donors he has reached across the aisle throughout his career. “I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said, according to a pool report. “He never called me ‘boy’; he always called me ‘son.’ “

“Well, guess what? At least there was some civility,” Biden said, also pointing to a working relationship he forged with Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge, another segregationist Democrat. “We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

Eastland represented Mississippi in the Senate for decades. He decried integration in public schools, the military and elsewhere and was a staunch opponent of civil rights legislation.

At the height of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark Montgomery bus boycott, Eastland told a segregationist rally that “In every stage of the bus boycott we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n*****s.” According to Robert Caro’s Master Of The Senate, Eastland went on to urge the crowd to “abolish the Negro race” with “guns, bows and arrows, slingshots, and knives.”

“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’ ” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of three black Democratic candidates for president, said in a statement Wednesday. “Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone. I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together.”

Booker said in a statement that he was disappointed Biden had not offered an immediate apology. The Biden campaign has not yet responded to NPR’s requests for additional comment.

Booker wasn’t the only 2020 candidate to weigh in. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that “it’s past time for apologies or evolution from Joe Biden. He repeatedly demonstrates that he is out of step with the values of the modern Democratic Party.”

Some of the sharpest criticism came from Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist married to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “That segregationist never called you ‘boy’ because you are white,” she tweeted. “If you want to boast about your relationship with a racist, you are not who we need to succeed the racist in the White House.”

Throughout his career, Biden has said the civil rights movement was his motivation for entering politics. He has framed his 2020 presidential campaign as a rescue mission of sorts for the United States’ national character, pointing to President Trump’s response to the deadly 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rallies as the moment he decided to enter the race.

Polls repeatedly show Biden with far more support from voters of color than any other Democratic candidate, and many African American voters say their main reason for backing him are his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.

As Biden has maintained his double-digit lead on the rest of the 23-candidate field, fellow Democrats have begun to take increasingly vocal shots at Biden’s moderate approach to governing. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both begun to routinely criticize incremental and “middle ground” Democratic policies, though both have made a point to, for the most part, avoid calling out Biden specifically.

Biden’s reminiscence for his “civil” and productive relationship with Talmadge and Eastland moved the criticism from implicit to explicit — and did so a week before Biden will appear on a televised debate stage with nine other Democratic candidates.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists

Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here’s what you need to know as you start your day …

Wisconsin’s Democratic gov tells Trump not to visit after president announced plans trip to inspect Kenosha riot damage
Tony Evers, the Wisconsin Democrat, who has been critical of President Trump, urged him to reconsider traveling to Kenosha on Tuesday. The city has experienced violent protests following the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, 29.

In a letter written by Evers and obtained by the Associated Press, the governor said, “I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together.”

The protests in Kenosha, which followed several in bigger cities around the nation, started this week after Blake was shot seven times on Aug. 23, by Kenosha police Officer Rusten Sheskey. Video seen on social media shows Sheskey shooting at Blake as he reached into his car, where Wisconsin officials later said a knife was found. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.

In other developments:
– 175 arrested during civil unrest in Kenosha, 104 had addresses listed outside city, police say
– Kenosha mayor won’t seek resignation of police chief, sheriff
– Pollster: Biden denounces Kenosha violence after campaign ‘misjudged how important it was to the American people’
– Accused Kenosha shooter’s lawyer claims self-defense amid new video
– Kenosha police union gives its account of Jacob Blake shooting

Colorado Rep. Ken Buck seeks investigation probing who is paying for violent protests around country
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., on Sunday sought a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into who’s funding recent violent protests that have sprung up across the country, reiterating statements made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who was recently attacked while leaving President Trump’s nomination acceptance speech Thursday at the White House.

Buck had first addressed the issue after Paul and his wife Kelley were accosted while returning from the speech Thursday, on the way back to their hotel.

“If the Tea Party threatened a Democratic Senator and assaulted police officers like this, it would be leading CNN,” the Colorado Republican wrote on Friday. “Every conservative politician would be asked to condemn it. Where is the outrage?”

Paul commented on the issue in an opinion piece for Fox News published on Saturday.

He revealed some of the protesters were actually staying in the same hotel — and on the same floor — as he and his wife. Some were even as close as the next room.

“They were talking about their mob activities and even saying they thought we were here on this floor,” Paul wrote. “We had to develop a 3 a.m. plan with Capitol Police to get to safety.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
– Elderly couple harassed in DC protests on GOP convention’s last night
– Violent clashes in DC between protesters, police after RNC
– Sen. Rand Paul: My wife and I were attacked by a mob — Dems would worsen problem by bowing to rioters
– Rand Paul calls for FBI arrests, investigation into ‘mob’ he believes ‘would have killed us,’ if not for police

Farmer’s Almanac claims upcoming winter looks ‘cold and snowy’ with some ‘crazy in-between’
The Farmers’ Almanac recently released its extended forecast for the upcoming 2020-2021 winter season, revealing the weather could be brutally cold and snowy for much of the country.

Editor Peter Geiger released a statement explaining the prediction, saying “Based on our time-tested weather formula, the forecast for the upcoming winter looks a lot different from last year, quite divided with some very intense cold snaps and snowfall.”

According to the forecast, those who live in the northern half of the country should get ready for extended bouts of cold.

Long-range forecasts from the periodical are calling for normal to below-normal temperatures in areas from the Great Lakes and Midwest stretching westward over the Northern and Central Plains and into the Rockies.

Areas around the Great Lakes are also expected to see a “fair share of snow,” but above-normal snowfall is also expected farther west from the western Dakotas into northern portions of Colorado and Utah, as well as Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and central and eastern sections of Washington and Oregon. Big cities in the Northeast, the publication reported, as well as parts of the Mid-Atlantic, may see a blizzard during the second week of February, with 1 to 2 feet of snow in places from Washington, D.C. to Boston. Another big snowstorm may also target the East Coast during the final week of March, with “significant” late-season snowfall. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.

In other developments:
– Which were the worst blizzards? Here are the deadliest storms in history
– Hurricane center monitoring ‘quartet of systems,’ disturbance could form off East Coast
– Atlantic hurricane season: Where do tropical storms form in August?

TODAY’S MUST-READS:
– St. Louis police officer dies after being shot in head
DC protesters march, shine lights into homes, chant, ‘Are you home, get into the street’
– 2020 MTV VMAs: Keke Palmer, The Weeknd call attention to Black Lives Matter movement
– Maryland state employee fired for social media posts supporting Kenosha shooting suspect: report
– Adele slammed for wearing Bantu knots, Jamaican flag bikini: ‘Stop it for good’

THE LATEST FROM FOX BUSINESS:
– Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has acquired slightly more than 5% of the shares in five large Japanese companies
– Asian shares score 29-month high Monday, highest levels since March 2018
– FDA commissioner says willing to fast-track coronavirus vaccine: report

#TheFlashback: CLICK HERE to find out what happened on “This Day in History.”

SOME PARTING WORDS

STEVE HILTON Sunday discussed the civil unrest continuing in U.S. cities and responded to Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler, who blamed President Trump for the violent protests.

Not signed up yet for Fox News First? Click here to find out what you’re missing.

Fox News’ Go Watch page is now available, providing visitors with Pay TV provider options in their area carrying Fox News Channel & Fox Business Network.

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News’ Jack Durschlag. Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! We’ll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/wisconsin-governor-tells-president-trump-to-cancel-visit-t-kenosha-on-tuesday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that would grant $4.6 billion for border aid in a bid to stem illegal migration across the country’s southern border with Mexico.

The legislation will need to be reconciled with a separate different border aid bill passed by the House of Representatives before it is sent to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

The White House has said Trump would veto the House version, which includes restrictions on U.S. immigration agencies and which does not include extra funding for the Defense Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Tim Ahmann

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-senate-passage/senate-approves-its-own-version-of-border-aid-bill-idUSKCN1TR2ZA

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a citywide curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. after four nights of violent protests. Garcetti said the National Guard would not be deployed. “This is not 1992,” he said, referring to the Rodney King riots.

Source Article from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXsbQUadxGw

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, is meeting with Republican senators throughout Tuesday on Capitol Hill, as the party finalizes plans for a quick confirmation process ahead of the November presidential election.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/politics/amy-coney-barrett-capitol-hill-scotus-nominee/index.html

A New York state judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of a tell-book by the niece of President Donald Trump, which paints an unflattering portrait of her uncle and the family’s history.

New York state Judge Hal Greenwald’s temporary restraining order blocks Simon & Schuster from “publishing, printing or distributing” Mary Trump’s book “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” scheduled to be released July 28. In the book, the daughter of Trump’s brother, Fred Jr., paints as an “authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him.”

Representatives for both parties have to meet on July 10 where the judge will evaluate Robert Trump’s claims and decide whether to issue an injunction.

Robert Trump, the president’s brother, filed a suit last week in New York in Queens County Surrogate court, where the estate of the president’s father, Fred Trump Sr., was settled after his death in 1999. However, the judge quickly tossed it out because it was not the proper venue for the dispute.

Lawyers for Robert Trump quickly filed a claim in Dutchess County Supreme Court in upstate New York, where he lives. Robert Trump argues that his niece, Mary Trump, violated a confidentiality agreement that barred her from writing the kind of tell-all book that she describes. The lawsuit claims that under the conditions of settling Fred Trump Sr.’s estate no member of the family is allowed to publicly discuss their relationship with one another without permission from the family.

Mary Trump also has claimed she released Trump’s tax returns to The New York Times and plans to describe the “inner workings” of the Trump family.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-york-judge-temporarily-blocks-release-tell-all-trump-s-n1232580

BET founder Bob Johnson is putting his money on Donald Trump to spend another four years in the White House.

Johnson, America’s first black billionaire, thinks there’s no Democrat who can take down the president in 2020.

“If you take a snapshot today, I don’t think that group is capable of beating Trump despite what the polls say,” Johnson, 73, told CNBC.  “I think the president has always been in a position where it’s his to lose based on his bringing a sort of disruptive force into what would be called political norms.”

Though the president remains rock solid with GOP voters, he has struggled with African Americans. He received just 8 percent of the black vote in 2016, has made many overtures to African Americans, including speaking at the Black Leadership Summit in Washington and his public bromance with Kanye West.

“What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump famously told black voters in August 2016, urging them to vote for him and arguing that Hillary Clinton and Democratic policies had failed their community.

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2019/11/30/bet-founder-bob-johnson-says-2020-democrats-dont-stand-a-chance-against-trump/

The wind had eased by Friday morning, slowing the blaze enough for firefighters to attack it head on. But although cooler weather and lower winds are forecast for the coming days, “fire conditions could change in an hour or a day,” Mr. Brown said.

As of Friday morning, the Caldor fire had burned close to 213,000 acres and was 29 percent contained. Crews continued dropping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and fire retardant while firefighters crossed the water by boat — pumping water from Lake Tahoe to save remote cabins and vacation homes.

Little remains known about the origins of the fire, which began almost three weeks ago near the Eldorado National Forest. Last month, it leveled much of the town of Grizzly Flats, and has so far destroyed more than 650 homes and 12 businesses. Four emergency workers and two civilians have been injured.

More than 30,000 other buildings remain threatened, authorities said Friday.

Jeffrey Spencer, 61, who evacuated with his wife and mother-in-law from their home near the Eldorado National Forest, about 10 miles south of Lake Tahoe, said that though the fire continued to burn just miles from their house, he was feeling “cautiously hopeful.”

“Our lives and important papers and valuables, we got to get out,” Mr. Spencer said. “The rest can be replaced.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/us/caldor-fire-lake-tahoe.html

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, said Tuesday on NPR’s Morning Edition that President Donald Trump was incorrect in saying coronavirus testing problems had been resolved.

“Yeah, that’s just not true. I mean I know that they’ve taken some steps to create new tests, but they’re not actually produced and distributed out to the states.” Hogan said, when host Rachel Martin asked him about Trump’s assertions. “No state has enough testing.” 

In a coronavirus task force briefing Monday, Trump said America’s coronavirus testing was better “than any country in the world.” 

“We have done more tests, by far, than any country in the world, by far. Our testing is also better than any country in the world,” Trump said on Monday.

“We have built an incredible system to the fact we have now done more tests than any other country in the world and now the technology is really booming,” Trump said. 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/31/coronavirus-larry-hogan-says-trumps-claims-testing-not-true/5093609002/

via press release:

NOTICIAS  TELEMUNDO  PRESENTS:

“MURIENDO POR CRUZAR,” AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DEATHS ALONG THE BORDER, THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 AT 6 P.M./5 C

Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval present the Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production

Miami – July 31, 2014 – Telemundo presents “Muriendo por Cruzar”, a documentary that investigates why increasing numbers of immigrants are dying while trying to cross the US-Mexican border near the city of Falfurrias, Texas, this Sunday, August 3 at 6PM/5 C.  The Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production, presented by Noticias Telemundo journalists Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval, reveals the obstacles immigrants face once they cross into US territory, including extreme weather conditions, as they try to evade the border patrol.  “Muriendo por Cruzar” is part of Noticias Telemundo’s special coverage of the crisis on the border and immigration reform.

 

“‘Muriendo por Cruzar’” dares to ask questions that reveal the actual conditions undocumented immigrants face as they try to start a new life in the United States,” said Alina Falcón, Telemundo’s Executive Vice President for News and Alternative Programming.  “Our collaboration with The Weather Channel was very productive. They have a unique expertise in covering the impact of weather on people’s lives, as we do in covering immigration reform and the border crisis. The result is a compelling documentary that exposes a harrowing reality.”

“Muriendo por Cruzar” is the first co-production by Telemundo and The Weather Channel.  Both networks are part of NBCUniversal.

Source Article from http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/07/31/noticias-telemundo-presents-muriendo-por-cruzar-this-sunday-august-3-at-6pm/289119/

A U.S.-backed drive to deliver foreign aid to Venezuela met strong resistance as troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro blocked the convoys at the border and fired tear gas on protesters in clashes that left two people dead and some 300 injured.

As night fell Saturday, opposition leader Juan Guaido refrained from asking supporters to continue risking their lives trying to break through the government’s barricades at the Colombian and Brazilian borders. Instead, he said he would meet U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday in Bogota at an emergency meeting of mostly conservative Latin American governments to discuss Venezuela’s crisis.

But he did make one last appeal to troops to let the aid in and urged the international community to keep “all options open” in the fight to oust Maduro given Saturday’s violence.

“How many of you national guardsmen have a sick mother? How many have kids in school without food,” he said, standing alongside a warehouse in the Colombian city of Cucuta where 600 tons of mostly U.S.-supplied boxes of food and medicine have been stockpiled. “You don’t owe any obedience to a sadist…who celebrates the denial of humanitarian aid the country needs.”

Earlier, Maduro, who considers the aid part of a coup plot, struck a defiant tone, breaking diplomatic relations with Colombia, accusing its “fascist” government of serving as a staging ground for a U.S.-led effort to oust him from power and possibly a military invasion.

“My patience has run out,” Maduro said, speaking at a rally of red-shirted supporters in Caracas and giving Colombian diplomats 24 hours to leave the country.

Throughout the turbulent day Saturday, as police and protesters squared off on two bridges connecting Venezuela to Colombia, Guaido made repeated calls for the military to join him in the fight against Maduro’s “dictatorship.” Colombian authorities said more than 60 soldiers answered his call, deserting their posts in often-gripping fashion, though most were lower in rank and didn’t appear to dent the higher command’s continued loyalty to Maduro’s socialist government.

In one dramatic high point, a group of activists led by exiled lawmakers managed to escort three flatbed trucks of aid past the halfway point into Venezuela when they were repelled by security forces. In a flash the cargo caught fire, with some eyewitnesses claiming the National Guardsmen doused a tarp covering the boxes with gas before setting it on fire. As a black cloud rose above, the activists — protecting their faces from the fumes with vinegar-soaked cloths — unloaded the boxes by hand in a human chain stretching back to the Colombian side of the bridge.

“They burned the aid and fired on their own people,” said 39-year-old David Hernandez, who was hit in the forehead with a tear gas canister that left a bloody wound and growing welt. “That’s the definition of dictatorship.”

For weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and its regional allies have been amassing emergency food and medical supplies on three of Venezuela’s borders with the aim of launching a “humanitarian avalanche.” It comes exactly one month after Guaido, in a direct challenge to Maduro’s rule, declared himself interim president at an outdoor rally.

Even as the 35-year-old lawmaker has won the backing of more than 50 governments around the world, he’s so far been unable to cause a major rift inside the military — Maduro’s last-remaining plank of support in a country ravaged by hyperinflation and widespread shortages.

Late Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Venezuelan security forces to “do the right thing” by allowing humanitarian assistance into the country.

The clashes started well before Guaido straddled a semi-truck and waved to supporters in a ceremonial send-off of the aid convoy from Cucuta. In the Venezuelan border town of Urena, residents began removing yellow metal barricades and barbed wire blocking the Santander bridge. Some were masked youth who threw rocks and later commandeered a city bus and set it afire.

“We’re tired. There’s no work, nothing,” Andreina Montanez, 31, said as she sat on a curb recovering from the sting of tear gas used to disperse the crowd.

The single mom said she lost her job as a seamstress in December and had to console her 10-year-old daughter’s fears that she would be left orphaned when she decided to join Saturday’s protest.

“I told her I had to go out on the streets because there’s no bread,” she said. “But still, these soldiers are scary. It’s like they’re hunting us.”

At the Simon Bolivar bridge, a group of aid volunteers in blue vests calmly walked up to a police line and shook officers’ hands, appealing for them to join their fight.

But the goodwill was fleeting and a few hours later the volunteers were driven back with tear gas, triggering a stampede.

At least 60 members of security forces, most of them lower-ranked soldiers, deserted and took refuge inside Colombia, according to migration officials. One was a National Guard major. Colombian officials said 285 people were injured, most left with wounds caused by tear gas and metal pellets that Venezuelan security forces fired.

A video provided by Colombian authorities shows three soldiers at the Simon Bolivar bridge wading through a crowd with their assault rifles and pistols held above their heads in a sign of surrender. The young soldiers were then ordered to lie face down on the ground as migration officials urged angry onlookers to keep a safe distance.

“I’ve spent days thinking about this,” said one of the soldiers, whose identity was not immediately known. He called on his comrades to join him: “There is a lot of discontent inside the forces, but also lots of fear.”

Guaido, who has offered amnesty to soldiers who join the opposition’s fight, applauded their bravery, saying it was a sign that support for Maduro was crumbling. Later, he greeted five of the military members, who in turn offered a salute, calling the opposition leader Venezuela’s “constitutional president” and their commander in chief.

“They aren’t deserters,” Guaido said. “They’ve decided to put themselves on the side of the people and the constitution. … The arrival of liberty and democracy to Venezuela can’t be detained.”

Analysts warn that there may be no clear victor and humanitarian groups have criticized the opposition as using the aid as a political weapon.

“Today marked a further blow to the Maduro regime, but perhaps not the final blow that Guaido, the U.S. and Colombia were hoping for,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. “Threats and ultimatums from Washington directed to the generals may not be the best way to get them to flip. In fact, they are likely to have the opposite effect.”

International leaders including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are appealing for the sides to avoid violence. But at least two people were killed and another 21 injured in the town of Santa Elena de Uairen, near the border with Brazil, according to local health officials.

Amid the sometimes-chaotic and hard-to-verify flow of information, opposition lawmakers and Guaido said the first shipment of humanitarian aid had crossed into Venezuela from Brazil — although reports from the ground revealed that two trucks carrying the aid had only inched up to the border itself.

Late Saturday, Guaido tweeted that the day’s events had obliged him to “propose in a formal manner to the international community that we keep all options open to liberate this country which struggles and will keep on struggling.”

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Henao reported from Urena, Venezuela. AP Writers Joshua Goodman and Scott Smith contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.

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