The Trump administration’s seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela is one of the most dramatic twists yet in a military pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

With the economy in ruins, and U.S. military forces off the coast, uncertainty and rumors mark life in Venezuela, dampening the yuletide mood.

Venezuela is bracing for a possible land attack after President Donald Trump said, “It’s going to be starting on land pretty soon,” following the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Friday promised political change after slipping out of the country in secret to collect the Nobel Peace Prize, as the shock waves intensified from the Trump administration's seizure of an oil tanker earlier this week.

President Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser has long sought to cripple or topple Cuba’s government, which has close security and economic ties to Venezuela.

A White House official told Newsweek that deportation flights to Venezuela “will continue."

Experts say that Russian and Chinese support for Venezuela has largely dried up, with no prospect of real military or financial aid.