Two shipping containers and a truck trailer sitting in the middle of an empty bridge between Venezuela and Colombia. It’s an unusual image, for sure. And rival governments have spun it for their own gain. “And the people who put those containers there — is a terrorist, criminal regime.” They were put there by the Venezuelan government about two weeks ago. The message? Venezuela will block any U.S. aid from coming into the country. But the thing is, none of this is exactly as it seems. Let’s start with this building: a warehouse in Colombia that’s holding U.S. aid for Venezuela. The Americans are supporting Juan Guaidó. He’s trying to oust Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro. The country is in economic crisis, and the U.S. aid is supposed to be part of that support. Pull out a bit, and here’s the bridge with the containers and trailer, about 800 yards away. From Maduro’s perspective, they’re turning back unwanted aid from meddling outsiders. From the U.S. perspective, they’re preventing aid from reaching the needy. Here’s why neither of these perspectives is quite true. The bridge was finished in 2016, but because of a dispute between Colombia and Venezuela, the border crossing was never opened. Take a look at this image from 2017. The bridge is deserted. And there’s no border traffic. That barrier in front of the containers? It was actually already there. It was built by Colombia to help stop smuggling. If we pull out a bit more, we can see there’s two other bridges close by. They also lead to the border. But they’re open — about 30,000 people pass through each day. Why couldn’t aid just be delivered on these bridges? They’re only open to foot traffic. And Venezuela restricts what can be brought over them. So in reality, there was never a possibility of driving aid over any of these bridges as long as Maduro was in charge. Some aid groups accuse the U.S. and opposition leaders of bringing the supplies here anyway, using the aid as a tool to pressure Maduro. Despite all this, the blocked bridge continues to be a flashpoint. Most recently, there have been plans for opposing concerts at either end of the bridge, each designed to rally Venezuelans — and the world — to their causes.