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.

Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister denounced the seizure, calling it a “blatant theft” and “an act of international piracy.”

The U.S. seized a Venezuelan oil tanker this week after months of maintaining that ongoing military operations in the Caribbean were focused on fighting drug trafficking.

Now, President Donald Trump wants Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro out of power. Maduro’s “days are numbered,” Trump told Politico in an interview released on Dec. 9. His Administration considers Maduro the head of a government-sponsored cocaine smuggling syndicate.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will carry out imminent strikes on Venezuela to intercept alleged narcotics shipments from the country. "It's going to be starting on land pretty soon," Trump said, without specifying further. Newsweek has contacted the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry for comment outside office hours.

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

The favourite in Chile's election on Sunday is the right-wing José Antonio Kast. A Kast victory would be the latest rightward political shift in South America, as U.S. President Donald Trump and the White House try to coax or force the socialist leader of Venezuela from office.

Venezuelan authorities said the U.S. government had unilaterally suspended a scheduled deportation flight that was due to land on December 12. The claim came in a statement issued by Venezuela’s Ministry of Justice on Thursday, which accused the U.S. of disrupting a process that had previously been agreed upon.