The votes follow a monthslong military campaign against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday asked the United Nations to act to avoid bloodshed in Venezuela, while other countries expressed concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's recent blockade announcement.

As U.S.-Venezuela tensions rise, sociologist and historian Emmanuel Guerisoli wrote in Spanish in Venezuela’s El Nacional that a civil war is “very likely” if the United States tries to unilaterally oust President Nicolás Maduro. Newsweek has reached out to Guerisoli and the State Department for comment via email on Wednesday.

A firm controlled by a businessman tied to a seized tanker with Venezuelan has sold millions of barrels from a Chevron-operated oil field.

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on Venezuela on Tuesday by announcing that he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers ” entering and leaving the South American country.

Mexico offered to mediate between the US and Venezuela as President Donald Trump’s tanker blockade increases tension between the two nations.