Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that an "armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe" in the face of escalating ‍actions from the United States toward regional ‍neighbor Venezuela.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers ⁠entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington's latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government, targeting its main ​source of income.

Lula and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, the leaders of Latin America's two largest economies, had already urged restraint this ‍week, as tensions escalated.

But on Saturday, during a summit of ⁠the South American Mercosur bloc in Foz do Iguaçu, a city in southern Brazil, Lula made a stronger statement against what he said would be a "dangerous precedent for ⁠the world."

More than four ​decades after the ⁠Falklands War, between Argentina and Britain, he added, "the South American continent is ‍once again haunted by the military presence of an extra-regional power."

In a ‌joint statement following the Mercosur summit, Latin American leaders reaffirmed their commitment to upholding democratic principles and human rights ⁠in Venezuela ​through peaceful means. The ‍declaration was endorsed by the presidents of Argentina, Paraguay and Panama alongside senior officials from Bolivia, ‍Ecuador and Peru.