Cuba denied it had reached out to the United States about what the region would look like without President Nicolas Maduro leading Venezuela, calling the media report "absurd and false." Cuba vice foreign minister Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press on Monday that those alleged discussions,

Abundant deposits of bauxite, coltan, gold and rare-earth minerals, which are now central to national security and global supply chains, are located in Venezuela, mainly in the southern part of the country. It is there that authority is weakest and armed groups are strongest.

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 Trump administration has set its sights on Venezuela in its latest campaign against illegal drugs, but data shows that the country is responsible for just a sliver of drug trafficking directly to the United States.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.

Fighter jets, bombers and surveillance drones: the United States military has flown a variety of aircraft along Venezuela's coast in recent weeks, an AFP analysis shows, amid growing fears of conflict between the countries.

The Venezuelan army reportedly swore in 5,600 new troops on Saturday in direct response to the United States ramping up military pressure in the Caribbean Sea.

The opposition and the Maduro regime will face a new variable at the negotiating table: the United States and its heavy military presence off Venezuela’s coast. As a direct party, the Trump