US aid heads to Venezuela border

Cucuta: Accompanied by police officers on motorcycles, trucks carrying humanitarian aid to crisis-wracked Venezuela arrived at the Colombia border on Thursday.

Semi-trailers loaded with boxed emergency food and medicine drove into the town of Cucuta, which is just across the river from Venezuela.

Venezuela's opposition leaders requested the shipments and vowed to bring them inside the troubled nation despite objections from embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

The focus of Venezuela's political fight now hinges on whether Maduro will allow the aid to pass.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido said the aid is necessary in a country racked by shortages of basic goods.

Maduro denies a humanitarian crisis exists and says Venezuela is not a country of beggars.

The Venezuelan military has barricaded a bridge between the two nations in an apparent attempt to block the aid.