The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, considers that his visit to his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro fills a “political vacuum” of six years.
(President Petro will meet with Maduro this Tuesday, November 1).
This encounter isthe first meeting with the president (Maduro) for six years”, what it means “Six years of political vacuum between two neighbors, Colombia and Venezuela”, Petro said on Tuesday.
The last meeting between presidents of both countries was on August 11, 2016 when Maduro met in Puerto Ordaz (Venezuela) with then Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
Among the topics on the agenda this Tuesday is the recent resumption of bilateral relations.
(Venezuelan border: Petro asked to close trails to promote trade).
Maduro broke diplomatic relations with Colombia on February 23, 2019 due to the support of the then Colombian president, Iván Duque, for the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who tried to enter his country that day from the Colombian city of Cúcuta at the head of a humanitarian caravan. , which ended in riots on the border.
With the arrival of Petro to power, the two countries reappointed ambassadors and resumed relations at the end of Augustand on September 26 they reopened the common border that had been closed to the passage of vehicles since August 2015, by order of the Venezuelan president.
Gustavo Petro
TIME
Petro also assured that there will be “an open agenda” Where could it be “The dignity of migrations, both of Colombians in Venezuela, who are millions, and of Venezuelans in Colombia.”
They will also address other topics of the “american agenda” like the Amazon jungle and “the democratic construction of America”due to the changes that have taken place recently with his election but also with the forthcoming return to power of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil.
Is “democratic construction”, as Petro is going to propose to Maduro, “It must go through the strengthening of the inter-American human rights system”, to which the Colombian president has asked Maduro to return. Petro travels to Caracas accompanied by the foreign minister, Álvaro Leyva, and the Colombian ambassador in Caracas, Armando Benedetti, as well as the Venezuelan in Bogotá, Félix Plascencia.
EFE
