Colombian President Gustavo Petro officially sworn in this Wednesday the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, to whom he entrusted the restitution of binational relations that had been suspended during the previous government, a press release from the Xinhua Agency.
“Here a difficult road begins that has its pitfalls, its undoubted complications, which is to restore a diplomatic relationship with the neighbor,” said the Colombian president.
During the actheld at the Casa de Nariño, President Petro acknowledged that the rupture of diplomatic relations between neighboring nations, which occurred in 2019, was a mistake.
«All countries have their best businesses, their best relationships, depending on history, their fabrics, their biggest engines, both to take off and to fly, it is in the relationship with our neighbors, we have made a huge mistake, precisely breaking the relations with the neighbor (…) a relationship between neighbors should never be broken, “he added.
For Petro, the suspension of binational relations with Venezuela caused many problems of illegality such as smuggling, the most serious being the violation of human rights of the populations of both countries.
“Colombians and Venezuelans on the border are related, even by blood ties; That amount of human rights violation is enormous, we will have to make a book about it, an investigation, hopefully with organizations specialized in the defense of human rights, what happened to the population that had to cross by trail? President.
House of Colombia in Venezuela
Petro commissioned Benedetti travel immediately to Venezuela and put in order all the fronts between the neighboring countries that have traditionally been partners and allies in the search for the well-being of their inhabitants.
«So, ambassador, go and see how the Colombian house is over there, there are 16 consulates that have to be filled, we have talked about people with a diplomatic career, all 16 of them. The damage to the houses has to be repaired and the hearts, that the first, so that it never occurs to anyone that between Venezuela and Colombia there has to be a conflict and a war or things like that, “he said.
«What there has to be is love, cultural, economic, social relations, the possibility, after a common history, that we also have a common future. So good luck », he concluded.
Border Security and the Bonds of Brotherhood
For his part, Benedetti thanked the trust of the President Petro and in his account on the social network Twitter he assured that his work will be rebuild relationships with the neighboring country after almost four years of the rupture of these.
“Today I take office before President Petro Gustavo as Colombian ambassador to Venezuela. We will work to normalize relations between two sister countries. Trade, border security, and fraternal ties with our neighbor will be a priority,” he wrote.
Benedetti has assured that one of his first objectives as ambassador in Venezuela will be to promote commercial exchange between neighboring nations, which will especially benefit the inhabitants of the border.
