Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro says escalating pressure from the US comes down to one thing: Washington wants to grab the South American nation's vast oil reserves.

The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela is one of the most dramatic twists yet in a military pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuelan authorities said the U.S. government had unilaterally suspended a scheduled deportation flight that was due to land on December 12. The claim came in a statement issued by Venezuela’s Ministry of Justice on Thursday, which accused the U.S. of disrupting a process that had previously been agreed upon.

The U.S. seized a Venezuelan oil tanker this week after months of maintaining that ongoing military operations in the Caribbean were focused on fighting drug trafficking.

The favourite in Chile's election on Sunday is the right-wing José Antonio Kast. A Kast victory would be the latest rightward political shift in South America, as U.S. President Donald Trump and the White House try to coax or force the socialist leader of Venezuela from office.

Experts say that Russian and Chinese support for Venezuela has largely dried up, with no prospect of real military or financial aid.

Now, President Donald Trump wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power. Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump told Politico in an interview released on Dec. 9. His Administration considers Maduro the head of a government-sponsored cocaine smuggling syndicate.

Using U.S. forces to take control of a merchant ship is unusual and marks the Trump administration's latest push to increase pressure on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday held a second meeting in 17 days with the Venezuelan ambassador to Russia, at a time of mounting pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump for the removal of Venezuela's president,