The first shipment of humanitarian aid from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has arrived in Venezuela.

The organization confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that medicine and supplies to treat needy patients has landed in Caracas.

Images shared on social media showed workers in blue vests with the Red Cross emblem lowering boxes of aid from an airplane.

The Red Cross announced in late March that it had obtained permission from officials to begin delivering assistance to the crisis-stricken country.

The delivery marks a tacit recognition by President Nicolas Maduro that the South American nation is experiencing a humanitarian crisis, which he has long denied.

The opposition has made the aid delivery a key part of its campaign to oust the socialist leader.