MEXICO CITY – Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum appealed Wednesday to the United Nations to intervene and avert violence in Venezuela as tensions surge between Caracas and Washington over a U.S.-imposed oil tanker blockade.
Speaking at her morning press conference, Sheinbaum condemned foreign interference and intervention. “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, advocating dialogue and offering Mexico to host U.S.-Venezuela talks.
The plea follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s Tuesday order blockading sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, which President Nicolas Maduro’s government branded a “grotesque threat.” Trump, who has designated Maduro’s regime a foreign terrorist organization, plans a White House address Wednesday evening amid deploying thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships, including an aircraft carrier, near Venezuela’s Caribbean shores.
Maduro accused the U.S. buildup of targeting Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Sheinbaum stressed global responsibility for a peaceful resolution: “The entire world must ensure that there is no intervention and that there is a peaceful solution.”