The governments of Colombia and Venezuela said they are moving towards the normalization of bilateral relations after three years of rupture.
(The US proposal to Colombia and Petro on the Venezuela issue).
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said contacts are underway and he hopes to see results within two months. On his side, the Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López, said in Caracas that President Nicolás Maduro ordered him to “restore” military relations between the two countries that share a violent border.
Petro told reporters that the contacts are part of a “normalization process” and that “In two months we can be with the most important thing overcome”.
Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva “has made contacts with the other government to process the opening of the border,” where vehicular traffic has been restricted since 2015 and the closures worsened after the diplomatic rupture of 2019.
Both countries agreed to restore relations at the level of ambassadors with the arrival of Petro to power last Sunday, after the interruption caused by the recognition of “president in charge” that the outgoing administration of Iván Duque gave to the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
(Bogotá, the first destination for Venezuelan migration in Colombia).
“As long as relations are not normalized, there will be no ambassadors,” advanced Petro, who denied press versions about an imminent meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro.
Petro said that there are several issues to resolve, among them the company Monómeros Colombo Venezolanos, which manufactures agricultural supplies in Colombia.
“It is an affected company, almost bankrupt, it is necessary to see technically how it can be restarted (…) That is not so easy”, Said a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrochemical company of Venezuela (Pequiven), Monómeros announced this Tuesday the end of the “control measure” that Bogotá imposed on it in 2021 for “critical legal, accounting, administrative and economic situations”according to the Superintendency of Companies.
Duque, who did not recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro government, had transferred command of the company in 2019 to opposition leader Guaidó.
‘OPEN EYE’
Hours earlier, Venezuela had anticipated contacts with Bogotá on military issues.
The rapprochement seeks to “restore” “military relations” between the two countries, the Venezuelan Armed Forces published on Twitter, citing the words of Minister Padrino.
“Given the new national scenario that Colombia is experiencing, it is time to resume responsibilities and work together,” added Padrino López, at the head of the Venezuelan defense ministry since October 2014.
Padrino López called for “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.”
HOT LINE
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 in Bogotá to overthrow and even assassinate him.
(Venezuela and Colombia close positions).
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 transit.
AFP
