Power play How the US has built up the pressure on Maduro

Amid growing tensions between Washington and Caracas, the US has gathered its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

- Tiago Rogero

Donald Trump's administration has steadily increased pressure on Venezuela's leader, Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of running the drug-trafficking organisation "Cartel of the Suns", and placing a $50m (£38m) bounty on his head.

The US president has been opaque about his intentions and says he is keeping all options on the table from a military intervention to a negotiated exit for Maduro.

US officials in Washington DC have briefed that a "new phase" in the operation was about to begin, and on Saturday several international airlines cancelled flights to and from Venezuela after the US Federal Aviation Administration urged civilian aircraft to "exercise caution" due to the "worsening security situation and heightened military activity" in or around the country.

Deadly airstrikes

For weeks, the US has used the so-called "war on drugs" to justify its escalating military presence in the region. Trump's campaign began in September, when the US military struck a small open boat allegedly carrying drugs, killing 11 people.

Since then, at least 21 more vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific have been hit, killing 83 people - attacks the United Nations and other humanitarian organisations have described as extrajudicial executions.