Brazil's Lula warns US intervention in Venezuela could be catastrophic

By Manuela Andreoni

SAO ⁠PAULO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - ⁠Brazilian ‍President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that an "armed intervention in Venezuela ‍would be a humanitarian catastrophe" in the face ​of escalating actions from the United States toward regional neighbor ​Venezuela.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington's latest move to ​increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government, targeting its main source of income.

Lula and Mexican President Claudia ​Sheinbaum, the leaders of Latin America's two largest economies, had already urged ‌restraint this week, as tensions escalated.

But on Saturday, during a summit of the South American ​Mercosur bloc in Foz do ⁠Iguaçu, a city in southern Brazil, Lula made a stronger statement against what he ‌said would be a "dangerous precedent for the world."

More than four decades after the Falklands War, between Argentina and Britain, he ‌added, "the South American continent is once again haunted by the ‌military presence of an extra-regional power."

In a joint statement following the Mercosur summit, Latin American leaders reaffirmed their commitment to upholding ‍democratic principles and human rights in Venezuela through peaceful means. The declaration was endorsed ⁠by the presidents of Argentina, Paraguay and Panama alongside senior officials from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

(Reporting and writing by Manuela Andreoni; Additional reporting by Lucinda Elliott. Editing by Alison Williams and Diane Craft)

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