MEXICO CITY - President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has come out in opposition to a potential U.S. intervention in Venezuela, calling on the United Nations to intervene and "prevent any bloodshed" in the South American nation.
Sheinbaum has not been alone in her outspoken criticism of U.S. actions in the South Caribbean, amid the Pentagon's ongoing campaign to rid the region of criminal drug trafficking networks.
Colombian President Petro and Brazil's Lula da Silva have also condemned the large-scale deployment of U.S. military assets in the region, which has resulted in the targeted strikes of dozens of suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing more than 80 people.
Sheinbaum and Lula, however, have not been as bold in their opposition as Colombia's president and former rebel of Colombia's Left-wing, M-19 guerrilla movement, Gustavo Petro, who has accused the U.S. Trump administration of setting on a war path to "steal" Venezuela's natural resources of both gold and oil.
Sheinbaum has urged for restraint by officials in Washington as tensions between the United States and Venezuela's Maduro regime in Caracas show no signs of cooling.
"The United Nations has been conspicuously absent. It must assume its role to prevent any bloodshed and to always seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts", Sheinbaum admonished to reporters in Mexico City, one day after President Trump announced a "total and complete blockade" surrounding Venezuela, and the barring of any oil tankers sanctioned by U.S. authorities from entering or departing the Venezuelan coast.
Sheinbaum also added comments in her morning briefing on Wednesday in the nation's capital that do fall in line with past assertions made by her fellow Latin American presidents, warning that U.S. military action in Venezuela violates the region's right to sovereignty and will be considered an act of "foreign interference."
"We call for dialogue and peace to be used in any international dispute, and not intervention. That is our position by conviction and by our constitution", said Sheinbaum, adding, "The entire world must ensure that there is no intervention and that there is a peaceful solution."
