Venezuela announced on Tuesday that it will contact the government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia to restore “military relations” between the two countries, which share a porous and violent border.
“I have received instructions” from President Nicolás Maduro “to contact the Colombian Defense Minister, which I am going to do in the next few hours,” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López told the official press.
The rapprochement seeks to “restore” “military relations” between the two countries, the Venezuelan Armed Forces published on Twitter, citing the minister’s words.
“Given the new national scenario that Colombia is experiencing, it is time to resume responsibilities and work together,” added Padrino López, who has headed the Venezuelan defense ministry since October 2014.
Petro appointed Iván Velásquez, a renowned investigator who headed the UN commission against corruption in Guatemala, as defense minister.
Venezuela and Colombia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors with the arrival of Petro to power last Sunday, after the rupture in 2019 due to the recognition of “president in charge” that the outgoing administration of Iván Duque gave to the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
“It does not mean that there is a political change and that the changes occur immediately, that does not exist, we have to (go) little by little, that nobody accelerates, a lot of prudence, a lot of tact and a lot of open eyes so that we assume the new realities on the border with Colombia,” said Padrino López.
The border of more than 2,000 km that both countries share has been marked by years of violence, with the presence of guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug trafficking.
Duque accused Maduro of harboring dissidents from the dissolved FARC and drug-related organizations, which the Chavista president denied, while denouncing conspiracies by Bogotá to overthrow and even assassinate him.
In March 2021, fighting in Apure between the Venezuelan military and Colombian irregulars, which Chavismo linked to the neighboring government, left 16 soldiers dead and thousands of civilians displaced.
The Colombian forces also denounced violations of their territory by the Venezuelan military. In August 2021, they arrested two soldiers accused of illegally crossing armed.
The closure of the binational crossings has also led to the opening of alternative roads, called “trails”, through which thousands of people and millions of dollars in contraband merchandise travel.
“We voted for peace in Colombia and we continue to make all our efforts to keep the border clean,” said the Venezuelan defense minister.
