MEXICO CITY, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday asked the United Nations to act in order to avoid bloodshed in Venezuela, as tensions escalate between the South American country and the United States.
Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference that Mexico is against intervention and against foreign interference in Venezuela.
“I call on the United Nations to fulfill its role. It has not been present. It must assume its role to prevent any bloodshed,” she said.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, a move that the government of Nicolas Maduro called a “grotesque threat.”
Trump, who has labeled the “Venezuelan Regime” a foreign terrorist organization, is scheduled to speak to U.S. citizens later on Wednesday evening from the White House.
U.S. tensions with Venezuela have escalated as Trump has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including an aircraft carrier – to the region.
Venezuela’s government said in a statement it rejected Trump’s “grotesque threat.”
(Reporting by Mexico Newsroom; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Cassandra Garrison)
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