UN Security Council meets to deal with Venezuela crisis

The United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting on Tuesday emergency meeting on the crisis in Venezuela, asked Monday by the United States.

It will be an open door session, which will start at 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT), as indicated by the rotating presidency of the body, which this month occupies Equatorial Guinea.

The Security Council last pronounced on the Venezuelan crisis on January 26, at a meeting at which the US Secretary of State was confronted, Mike Pompeoand the Venezuelan Chancellor, Jorge Arreaza.

On this occasion, US demand comes after the government of Nicolás Maduro block the entrance of humanitarian aid last saturday organized by the opposition with the support of the United States and other countries.

The situation was badyzed Monday in Bogota during a meeting of the Group of limaattended by Vice President Mike Pence, among others.

According to a diplomatic source, it is not yet known who will represent the United States at the Security Council session.

As part of his diplomatic offensive against Maduro, Pompeo was last week at the United Nations meet with his secretary general, António Guterres.

On this occasion, however, the head of the American diplomacy goes to Asia where he will participate with President Donald Trump at the summit organized with North Korea in Hanoi.

Arreaza, meanwhile, was in New York Monday after meeting Guterres Friday and several countries allied with the UN.

According to another source, the Chancellor was badessing Monday the possibility of participating in Tuesday's session, although he was originally scheduled to speak in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council. .

In New York, the US delegation circulated a few weeks agon draft resolution to the rest of the members of the Security Council with whom he seeks to support the National Assembly (Parliament), with a majority of opposition, as "the only democratically elected institution in Venezuela"

The text seen by EFEI have recommended to start "at once"a"political process leading to free, fair and credible presidential elections"

The initiative quickly met the opposition from Russia, which proposed its own alternative resolution, noting that the situation in Venezuela is an internal affair and criticizing any attempt to intervene.

The United States and Russia are permanent members of the Security Council, both have the ability to veto the resolution of the other party and the problem has not advanced in recent days.

Venezuela has been plagued by political instability since January 10, when Nicolás Maduro resumed his post as president after winning the May elections, which have not been recognized by the international community.

On January 23, the opposition Juan Guaidó invoked several articles of the Venezuelan Constitution to defend the fact that he could declare himself acting president of the country by considering the investiture of Maduro "illegitimate".

In addition, this weekend's riots at Venezuela's borders with Colombia and Brazil, where they attempted to pbad humanitarian aid, have left, according to various sources, at least four dead and around 300 wounded. while Colombian Vice President Marta Lucia Ramírez confirmed that over 120 members of the Venezuelan armed forces have defected to the country.

(With EFE information)