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.

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 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.

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

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

Venezuela's Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) committed serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity over more than a decade in targeting political opponents, often with impunity, a U.N.

CARACAS | TASS | Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has urged the United States to abandon its policy of interference, change of regimes and state coups in Venezuela and Latin America. “We demand the US government cease its illegal,

President Nicolás Maduro's government announced the twice-weekly flights will go on following a request from the Trump administration.