India, Jan. 4 -- US President Donald Trump's claim that American forces have captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following large-scale air and ground strikes marks the most dramatic escalation in US-Venezuela relations in decades.

The operation, announced early on Saturday, follows months of military pressure, economic coercion and sharp rhetoric from Washington - but why did Trump take such an extraordinary step, which pushed US-Latin America relations into one of their most volatile phases since the Cold War?

Understanding the alleged capture of Maduro requires tracing a long-running conflict rooted in drugs, migration, ideology and geopolitics.

Trump said US forces carried out a "large-scale strike" across Venezuela before ...