Mexican president calls on UN to act to avoid Venezuela “bloodshed” amid US blockade order

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — An oil tanker sails on Lake Maracaibo, in Cabimas, Venezuela October 14, 2022. REUTERS/Issac Urrutia

By Raul Cortes and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez

MEXICO CITY  -  Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday asked the United Nations to act 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 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 oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela, a move that the government of Nicolas Maduro called a "grotesque threat."

Sheinbaum also advocated for dialogue and de-escalation between Venezuela and the U.S., and offered Mexico as a host of any potential negotiations or meetings between the two countries.

"The entire world must ensure that there is no intervention and that there is a peaceful solution," she added.

ESCALATING THREATS

Trump, who has labeled the Venezuelan government a foreign terrorist organization, is due to address the nation 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 areas surrounding Venezuela's Caribbean shores.

Maduro's government, which has alleged that the U.S. military aims to control Venezuela's vast oil reserves, said in a statement it rejected Trump's actions.

(Reporting by Aida Pelaez Fernandez, Raul Cortes Fernandes and Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Cassandra Garrison, Rod Nickel // REUTERS)