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.

Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister denounced the seizure, calling it a “blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy.”

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.

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,

President Trump says destroying drug boats is saving Americans' lives. But Venezuela is linked to cocaine, which is far less deadly than fentanyl.

The president told POLITICO on Monday that he wouldn’t rule out a ground invasion of the South American country.

President Donald Trump took a swipe at Politico on Tuesday as reporter Dasha Burns pressed him on his Venezuela strategy, which he said he didn't want to talk about.

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the U.S. seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid escalating tensions between the administration and the region.