Venezuelan government officials have floated a plan in which President Nicolás Maduro would eventually leave office, a bid aimed at easing mounting U.S. pressure on the government in Caracas, according to a former Trump administration official.

Following the fifth strike on a Venezuelan boat allegedly carrying drugs, the White House said we should expect to see more attacks just like them.

The U.S. military destroyed a fifth boat in the Caribbean Sea this week that the Trump White House alleges carried narcotics bound for the U.S. Now, President Trump has raised the prospect of striking Venezuela on land.

Marco Rubio was among eight Republican lawmakers who last year called the Venezuelan opposition leader “courageous and selfless” in a Nobel Prize nomination letter. Trump wanted the honor.

The White House cites drug enforcement, but analysts say the military buildup just off the coast of Venezuela recalls a return to gunboat diplomacy.

Police in Trinidad and Tobago said they have received reports that two of the country's citizens were killed in a U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat.

The White House on Thursday denied claims from Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro that the latest U.S. military strike in the Caribbean struck a boat carrying Colombian citizens. Petro on

Comments on Venezuela’s leader come after US president authorised CIA to launch covert operations in the country