US wants UN Security Council to vote this week on Venezuela aid

The United States will ask the United Nations Security Council to vote this week on a draft resolution demanding that humanitarian aid be allowed into Venezuela, a US envoy said Tuesday.

Four people died in clashes over the weekend on Venezuela's borders during a bid by opposition leader Juan Guaido to defy President Nicolas Maduro and bring in humanitarian aid.

"We will have a resolution this week which will certainly call for the admission of humanitarian aid into Venezuela," Elliott Abrams, the US envoy for Venezuela, told reporters.

Abrams spoke ahead of a council meeting called by the United States to discuss the crisis in Venezuela, where an economic meltdown has forced millions to flee across borders.

The draft resolution is likely to face a veto from Russia and China, which support Maduro and have criticised the US stance on Venezuela as blatant interference in internal affairs.

Resolutions at the Security Council, which are legally binding, must garner nine votes and no vetoes from the five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- to be adopted.

Asked about a possible veto, Abrams said: "I think it would be shameful to veto a resolution that calls for humanitarian aid."