Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s cousin and nine other relatives were turned away at the Colombian border as they tried to escape the chaos amid a massive blackout in their own country.

Argimiro Berde Maduro Moran, 52, showed up at a border crossing point in Riohacha, Colombia, with his wife, Mariangeles Ceberg Badell, and their three children.

Maduro Moran was also accompanied by his sister-in-law, Maria Antonieta, her husband, Niccio Gerardo Vargas Escobar, and the couple's three children.

Colombian immigration officials turned them all away Tuesday afternoon and they had to remain in Venezuela where electricity is limited and drinking water scarce.

Colombian Immigration officials deny entrance to Nicolás Maduro's cousin, Argimiro Berde Maduro Moran (second from right), at a border crossing point in northern Colombia on Tuesday. Maduro Moran said he and nine other relatives were looking to get away from Venezuela for 'five days' because of the shortage of electricity. He is accompanied by his sister-in-law's husband, Niccio Gerardo Vargas Escobar (third from left)

Nicolás Maduro has been involved in a war-of-words with opponents of his regime since a massive blackout last Thursday sent Venezuela into chaos

Immigration agents in the northern Colombian town off the Caribbean Sea coast said Maduro Moran and his party claimed they 'would be in Riohacha for five days while the energy service was restored' and that 'the heat in Venezuela was impossible.'

The group was transported to another border crossing point and returned to Venezuela.

'[He] sought to protect himself in Colombia from the energy and food crisis and, above all, from the lack of water in Venezuelan territory,' Colombian Immigration director Christian Krüger Sarmiento said in a video statement.

The immigration official put his foot down, declaring that the neighboring South American nation, which has opened its doors to thousands of suffering Venezuelans, wouldn't be a safe haven for anyone directly connected to the Maduro regime.

'We will not allow relatives of the dictator Maduro to enter our country,' he said.

The Colombian immigration department followed a January directive from the Lima Group, made up of 11 Latin American countries and Canada created in 2017 to find a solution to the Venezuelan crisis.

Nicolás Maduro's cousin, Argimiro Berde Maduro Moran (second from right), is one of 300 people who are not allowed to enter 11 Latin American countries and Canada

Argimiro Berde Maduro Moran was denied entry to Colombia on Tuesday. According to immigration officials, he 'sought to protect himself in Colombia from the energy and food crisis and, above all, from the lack of water in Venezuelan territory'

None of the member countries have permitted persons directly associated with the embattled leader entrance into their territories.

Maduro Moran and his companions are among 300 people registered on a banned list connected with Maduro and his upper government cohorts.

'We aren't going to allow, while the people of Venezuela die in hospitals due to lack of energy, people close to the Maduro regime to enter Colombia to spend their holidays evading the reality,' Krüger Sarmiento added.

Maduro Moran's attempt to flee comes just weeks after the president's right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello, sent his two children off to China in late February.

Cabello, considered to be the second-most powerful person in Venezuela and leader of its National Constituent Assembly (ANC), booked a flight for his two youngest children, Daniella Cabello, and Tito Cabello.

The sudden trip immediately raised suspicions after they boarded the Havana to Beijing flight as Desiree Contreras and Tito Contreras, apparently using their mother's surname to hide their identities.

The crisis in the oil-rich country worsened last Thursday when a power outage left the nation dark, pitting Maduro's socialist government in a back-and-forth war of words with interim president Juan Guiadó and the international community that has called for him to step down.

The blackout sent hospitals into a state of chaos.

Médicos por la Salud [Doctors for Health], an independent Venezuela-based organization that has been closely following medical institutions, told Univision that between March 8 and 11, 19 of the 24 patients reported dead were awaiting treatment for dialysis.

In total, the blackout has left at least 43 people dead in a nation of 30 million.