Mexican President Sheinbaum Calls UN To Get Involved In U.S.-Venezuela Tensions To 'Avoid Any Bloodshed'

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on the UN to get involved in the conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela to "avoid any bloodshed" after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned" tankers off the South American country's coast.

Speaking during her daily press conference, Sheinbaum said the UN has not "taken its role" in conflict resolution so to "always look for a peaceful solution among the peoples." She went on to recall that Mexico has always stood against foreign intervention and in favor of the self-determination of the peoples, as well as peaceful conflict resolution.

"We call for any international controversy be solved through dialogue and peace and not through intervention. That is our position due to conviction and Constitution, it always has to be the stance of any Mexican president beyond opinions about the Venezuelan regime, Maduro's presidency," Sheinbaum added.

Trump announced on Monday the blockade in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, saying the U.S. has designated the Venezuelan authoritarian government as a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers.

He claimed the Maduro government uses oil revenues to finance narcotrafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, murder and kidnapping, and said U.S. naval pressure in the Caribbean would continue until Venezuela "returns" oil, land and other assets he said were stolen from the United States.

Responding to those remarks, the Venezuelan government said Trump "assumes that Venezuela's oil, land and mineral wealth are his property," calling the position "interventionist and colonialist." "Venezuela will never again be a colony of any empire or foreign power," the statement said.

Maduro reiterated that Washington's "true intention" has always been to appropriate Venezuela's natural resources through "gigantic campaigns of lies and manipulation." The government also rejected the possibility of a naval blockade, describing it as a "grave and reckless threat," and said it would exercise its sovereignty "above these warmongering threats."

Caracas said its ambassador to the United Nations will immediately file a formal complaint against the United States for what it described as a serious violation of international law.

Trump's announcement follows last week's U.S. seizure of the tanker Skipper, which was carrying Venezuelan crude and was intercepted in the Caribbean under a court order. U.S. officials said the cargo was bound for Cuba and China. It is going to Houston instead.