The United States has attacked Venezuela and captured its long-serving President Nicolas Maduro in an overnight operation, taking the president and his wife to New York to face narcotics and terrorism charges.
Tensions between Venezuela and the US had risen significantly in recent months, as the US accused Maduro of several crimes, grouped him with a foreign terrorist organisation and offered millions of dollars for information that could lead to his arrest.
Following the lightning attack on Venezuela, US attorney general Pam Bondi vowed that Maduro and his wife will face "the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts".
So, who is Maduro and how did tensions escalate between the two nations?
Who is Nicolas Maduro?
Maduro, who began his career as a bus driver and became a trade union leader, had been Venezuela's president since 2013 and was declared the winner of last year's July election.
But international election monitors raised serious questions about reports of voter intimidation and a lack of transparency over how the votes were ultimately tallied.
Maduro's rise from politician to president followed the death of former leader Hugo Chavez, who chose Maduro as his successor.
Maduro is a follower of 'chavismo', the socialist-populist political ideology initiated by Chavez.
In a recent address, Maduro referred to Chavez, saying: "Be sure that just as I swore before the body of our commander Chavez before saying goodbye to him, absolute loyalty at the cost of my own life and tranquillity."
In his third term as leader, Maduro had been accused of fraud, suppressing opposition and human rights abuses.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year, for "her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela".
Alleged narco-terrorism and the rising possibility of an invasion
In recent months, the US had been putting pressure on Venezuela and Maduro.
There had been repeated threats by Trump to extend military operations to land, and the designation of Cartel de los Soles, a group the Trump administration says includes Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organisation.
The name, which translates to Cartel of the Suns, is a reference to the sun insignia worn by Venezuelan generals.
InSight Crime, a foundation that analyses organised crime, said in August that it was an "oversimplification" to say Maduro heads the cartel.
"[It] is more accurately described as a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers," it said.
Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it was "very likely" Maduro was at least aware of some military complicity with cocaine traffickers.
Trump said efforts to halt alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would start "very soon", amid increasing tensions with the South American country.
Accusations that the Venezuelan government supported and facilitated drug trafficking efforts into the US were central to the Trump administration's rhetoric and fuelled the months-long campaign of US strikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela.
Bondi said the US was offering a US$50 million ($76.3 million) reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest.
"He is one of the largest narcotraffickers in the world and a threat to our national security," she said.
"Under President Trump's leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes."
Trump had sent a large deployment of US military to the region, including an aircraft carrier group, with a stated mission of tackling transnational crime and drug trafficking.
The US named its mission in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean Operation Southern Spear and deployed the USS Gerald R Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier.
In an open letter, European politicians, including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Greece's former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, had warned of "the imminent threat of US military intervention in Venezuela".
"If the US launches a military intervention in Venezuela, it would mark the first interstate war by the United States in South America," the group wrote in November, noting how past US military operations in Latin America had "delivered not security but a torrent of bloodshed, dispossession, and destabilisation".
Maduro remained resolute
Maduro labelled the Trump administration's recent actions as gunboat diplomacy.
"Our diplomacy is not gunboat diplomacy, of threats. Because the world cannot be the world of 100 years ago again," he said.
"The gunboat diplomacy: I have so many cannons, so many ships, and I put them in front of you and you surrender or do what I feel like making you do. No, that's over."
While the US continued its campaign against Maduro, the Venezuelan president said he was not going anywhere and remained committed to leading the country and continuing Chavez's legacy.
"Be sure that I will never fail you, never, ever, never."
— With additional reporting by the Reuters News Agency
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