Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged the United Nations on Wednesday (Dec 17) to " prevent any bloodshed" in Venezuela, as US President Donald Trump piled pressure on the South American country.

" 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," the left-wing president told a press conference the morning after Washington announced a  blockade of " sanctioned oil tankers"   entering or leaving Venezuela.

The United States has for months been building a major military deployment in the Caribbean with the stated goal of combatting Latin American drug trafficking.

Caracas views the operation as a campaign to push out leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro - whom Washington and many nations view as an illegitimate president - and to " steal" Venezuelan oil.

Sheinbaum said that regardless of " opinions" about the leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Mexico' s position is to reject " 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," she added.