U.S. Navy aircraft carried out patrol flights Friday near the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao as part of what Washington describes as an expanded security operation targeting illicit trafficking networks - a move Venezuela denounced as an act of intimidation and a prelude to broader conflict in the region.

US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro's government. Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the tanker was "the largest one ever seized".

The Pope acknowledged the “danger” the US might invade Venezuela but urged President Donald Trump to “seek dialogue” with Caracas instead.

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.

With the economy in ruins, and U.S. military forces off the coast, uncertainty and rumors mark life in Venezuela, dampening the yuletide mood.

As President Donald Trump's drug campaign targets Venezuela, potential land strikes raise concerns about oil market disruption and higher energy prices for Americans.

The U.S. has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.

In an apparent show of force, Venezuelan F-16s displayed aggressive maneuvers within six miles of the Gerald Ford , even challenging an F-18 CAP flying out to intercept them. “It was clearly provocative, exceeding anything we experienced during the cold war with the Soviet Union,” says ex-Navy combat pilot and former NSC official Luis Quinones.

Trump has not definitively stated that he plans to overthrow the Venezuelan government, though he has opined that President Nicolás Maduro's "days are numbered."

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was absent from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway on Wednesday