The Trump administration on Friday denied reports from Caracas alleging that the United States had abruptly halted deportation flights to Venezuela. Venezuelan authorities said the U.S. government had unilaterally suspended a scheduled deportation flight that was due to land on December 12.

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.

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

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

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday promised political change after slipping out of the country in secret to collect the Nobel Peace Prize, as the shock waves intensified from the Trump administration's seizure of an oil tanker earlier this week.

Vladimir Putin calls Nicolás Maduro to pledge Russian support as U.S. pressure on Venezuela intensifies following massive oil tanker seizure and Caribbean military buildup.

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.

President Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser has long sought to cripple or topple Cuba’s government, which has close security and economic ties to Venezuela.