Former Miss Venezuela Carmen Maria Montiel, now a Republican congressional candidate, blames socialism for her country's decline from oil-rich prosperity to poverty.

Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro said the country and Colombia are "one country" as the United States escalates pressure on both countries with military operations in the Caribbean

President Donald Trump berated a reporter aboard Air Force One Sunday evening who asked when he was planning to launch air strikes against Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro, the country’s leader since 2013, is taking no chances. In recent weeks, he responded to the Trump administration’s moves as if invasion were imminent. After a September emergency decree and martial rhetoric about a “republic in arms,” the Venezuelan president says militias and reservists are now mobilized nationwide.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez claimed the mercenary group was captured “with direct information of the American intelligence agency, CIA.”

Jordan Goudreau was arrested last year on weapons smuggling charges tied to the failed coup attempt undertaken during the first Trump administration.

Tension is rising in Trinidad and Tobago after a Miami newspaper reported that the U.S. was poised to strike military targets in Venezuela.

The two main leaders of Venezuela's opposition are increasingly divided over looming U.S. actions targeting the country, even as a crackdown against opposition figures continues, politicians and analysts say.

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro claims the U.S. is waging a war against him as the world's largest warship nears the country

U.S. warships are amassing off the coast of Venezuela to prepare for a possible strike against military installations inside the country, Miami Herald reporting has confirmed. And the Bolivarian National Militia, a civilian reserve force within the country, is conducting military training of everyday Venezuelans.