Paul Moss

American officials claimed, without evidence, that the ship was carrying sanctioned oil used to fund what it called narco-terrorism.

Caracas, however, accused Washington of international piracy and kidnapping.

As we record this podcast, the US Coast Guard is pursuing another oil tanker in the same international waters.

Our Latin America expert, Luis Fajardo,

gave me the latest.

Have we heard anything?

I mean, what does the Venezuelan government say, not just about this particular American operation, but the seizure of the other two ships as well?

But do they deny the suggestion that these ships are breaking international sanctions by bringing the oil out?

The United States has certainly made no bones about the fact that it wants to see Nicolás Maduro removed from office.

They don't recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country.

And some have warned that all of this, plus, of course, there was the Americans attacking what they said were boats carrying drug dealers out of Venezuela.

All of this, they say, is a prelude to a full scale invasion of Venezuela.

Is Venezuela preparing for this?

Are they seriously worried that could happen?

Luis Fajardo.

Venezuela is not the only Latin American country to be on the receiving end of Donald Trump's wrath.

The US president has also accused Colombia and specifically its president of being complicit in the drugs trade.

But Gustavo Petro has announced that his navy just seized 27 tons of cocaine in collaboration with several other countries.

Danny Eberhardt has more details.

One photo, published by Colombia's presidency, shows piles of clingfilm-wrapped packages said to be seized cocaine.