"If there is a request [from Venezuela] and there is a humanitarian need, we will do it. We are a free and independent country and make our own decisions," Lopez Obrador said, when asked whether he could help sanctions-hit Venezuela.
The president added that Mexico does not interfere in other countries’ affairs and believes in self-determination of peoples.
"No one has the right to oppress others. No hegemony should stifle other countries," the Mexican leader stated.
The statement comes soon after a flotilla of five Iranian tankers loaded with fuel docked in Venezuela, despite US threats. Soon after that, The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is planning to add up to 50 tankers to its blacklist for cooperation with Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Prior to this, the Department of the Treasury unveiled sanctions on four tankers sailing under the flags of Panama, Bahamas and the Marshall Islands over links to Venezuela’s oil industry.
Caracas rejects US unilateral sanctions as illegitimate. In February, Caracas filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in the Hague over crippling US restrictions, which have intensified after Juan Guaido, an opposition figure backed by Washington and other western countries, proclaimed himself interim president of Venezuela in January 2019.
