US-Venezuela timeline: From sanctions to military action

Then Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (left) delivers a speech next to his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro (right), at the presidential palace Miraflores in Caracas, Venezuela on July 23, 2010. MIGUEL GUTIERREZ / AFP

The US military attack on Caracas on Saturday – and reported capture of President Nicolas Maduro – caps years of tensions between Washington and Venezuela, which started in 2006 with US sanctions.

2006: First sanctions

Relations between Washington and Venezuela plummeted following the 1999 arrival in power of President Hugo Chavez, Latin America's leftist firebrand. In 2006, the United States under President George W. Bush banned the sale of weapons and US-made military equipment to Venezuela, citing a lack of cooperation in the fight against terrorism. By 2010, the two countries no longer had ambassadors in each other's capital.

2014: Accusations of human rights violations