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.