WATCH: UNSC Holds Meeting on Venezuelan Political Crisis

The UN Security Council is holding a meeting on the political crisis in Venezuela. The United States is expected to urge the Security Council to call for new presidential elections in Venezuela.

US Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliot Abrams said Tuesday ahead of the UNSC meeting that Washington would announce more sanctions on Caracas and reintroduce a UN resolution on humanitarian aid.

The scheduling of the Security Council session comes after the United States imposed new sanctions on the Venezuelan government while US and opposition leaders vowed to intensify efforts to deliver controversial "humanitarian aid."

Venezuela is gripped by political crisis. On 5 January, lawmaker Juan Guaido was elected as the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, which all other government branches have been refusing to recognize since 2016.

On 23 January, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido declared himself the country's "interim president". Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for his second presidential term on 10 January after winning the May election, which part of the opposition boycotted, qualified Guaido's move as an attempt to stage a coup orchestrated by Washington.

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