FOZ DO IGUAÇU (Realist English). Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has warned that any armed intervention in Venezuela would amount to a humanitarian catastrophe, amid escalating pressure from the United States on Caracas.
Lula’s remarks followed a decision earlier this week by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose a “blockade” on all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela — a move aimed at cutting off the main source of income for the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking on Saturday at a summit of the South American trade bloc Mercosur in the southern Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu, Lula said military escalation by an outside power would set a “dangerous precedent for the world.”
“An armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe,” he said, adding that South America was once again facing the prospect of external military involvement decades after the Falklands War between Argentina and Britain. “The South American continent is once again haunted by the military presence of an extra-regional power,” Lula said.
Earlier in the week, Lula and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — leaders of Latin America’s two largest economies — had jointly called for restraint as tensions around Venezuela intensified.
In a joint declaration issued after the Mercosur summit, regional leaders reaffirmed their commitment to defending democracy and human rights in Venezuela through peaceful and diplomatic means. The statement was endorsed by the presidents of Argentina, Paraguay and Panama, as well as senior representatives from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.
The declaration underscored growing concern across Latin America that escalating U.S. pressure on Venezuela risks destabilising the region, with leaders stressing dialogue and non-intervention as the only viable path forward.