attacked people at both the Colombian and Brazilian borders. Bloomberg said "within a block of an international bridge where food and medicine were waiting" for aid to enter, "colectivos terrorized thousands". They fired weapons from speeding motorcycles, and one protester stated that masked men stepped from behind a row of Venezuelan National Guard and fired on the crowd at the Venezuelan border, while a doctor said that colectivos terrorized with weapons medics who were volunteering to help the wounded. At the Brazilian border, Bloomberg reported that observers said "colectivos ran rampant"; four died and hundreds were wounded. Humberto Prado, the director of the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, "accused the Maduro government of releasing prison inmates to fill the colectivos' ranks in their repression efforts", according to InSight Crime. As many military personnel defected into Colombia during the border clashes, InSight Crime suggested that "many of those who fled (...) did so because they were forced to work with the colectivos". The South Florida Sun reported that "colectivos have escalated attacks (...) opening fire on civilians and terrorizing communities." InSight Crime says that, as a result of the crisis in Venezuela, some colectivo members "are beginning to waver in their allegiance to the government because they have not been receiving the economic benefits they once did", but that "they fear persecution should they abandon the government’s revolution". The Washington Post said that Maduro relies on them and they help him stay in power in spite of a crumbling economy; Chávez was more popular and not as dependent on colectivos, while Maduro is unpopular because of the economic conditions in the country, and has resorted to violence and intimidation for power. Public Radio International stated that opposition demonstrations "are routinely broken up by masked motorcyclists who open fire onto crowds" and that the government relies on the "loyalty of these irregular paramilitary groups to deal with the public heavy-handedly rather than the military, which could potentially disobey uncomfortable orders and cause a government-military rupture". During the 2019 Venezuelan blackouts in March, Maduro called on the armed paramilitary gangs, saying, "The time has come for active resistance". US State Department special envoy to Venezuela Elliot Abrams labeled this a "breakdown in law and order", and said, "That's calling for armed gangs to take over the streets (...) Perhaps it is a sign of Maduro's lack of confidence in his own security forces." As blackouts