U.N. officials say the United States and Italy have organized an informal U.N. Security Council meeting on Venezuela, aimed at preventing the crisis in that country from turning into a security threat.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley will chair the informal meeting on Monday, which will include addresses from U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein and Organization of American States Secretary-General Luis Almagro.
The meeting comes as Venezuela faces the possibility of defaulting on its debt. On Friday, a committee of Venezuelan creditors postponed until next week a decision on whether state oil company PDVSA has officially defaulted on its debt payments.
“As the Venezuelan economy continues to crumble, the situation will likely only worsen, especially as the country is at risk of defaulting on its debt,” the U.N. note said.
The statement also said that over the past six months, more than 500,000 Venezuelans have fled political turmoil in the country, as well as fleeing soaring inflation and widespread shortages of food and medicine.
联合国官员说，美国和意大利召集安理会非正式会议，讨论委内瑞拉问题，努力防止委内瑞拉的危机转为安全威胁。
美国驻联合国代表黑利将主持星期一的非正式会议。联合国人权事务专员胡赛因和美洲国家组织秘书长阿尔马格罗将在会议上发言。
委内瑞拉目前可能无法偿还其债务。星期五，委内瑞拉的一个债权人委员会决定推迟到下星期正式决定委内瑞拉国营石油公司PDVSA是否债务违约。
联合国的通告说，委内瑞拉经济继续崩溃，看来还会进一步恶化，尤其是还面临债务违约的风险。
通告还说，6个月以来，50多万委内瑞拉人因为政治动乱，恶性通货膨胀以及食物和药物短缺而逃到国外。