While the newly elected president announced efforts to normalize passage on the wide binational border, the outgoing president of Colombia, Iván Duque, said the most important thing “is that we continue to guarantee, especially on the Venezuelan side, that there is no coexistence with terrorism because there is ‘Pablito’, Antonio García; because Iván Márquez is there»
The elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced in his social networks On the morning of this Wednesday, June 22, he contacted the administration of Nicolás Maduro to open the border between the two nations.
Petro, in his message via Twitter, stressed that this measure will seek to “restore the full exercise of human rights” in that area.
I have communicated with the Venezuelan government to open the borders and restore the full exercise of human rights on the border.
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 22, 2022
Five hours after Gustavo Petro reported on the call, President Nicolás Maduro confirmed the telephone contact and the willingness of both to “restore normality at the borders,” he wrote through his Twitter account.
Maduro also reported that they spoke about peace and “the prosperous future of both peoples.”
I spoke with the elected president of Colombia @petrogustavo, and on behalf of the Venezuelan people, I congratulated him on his victory. We discussed the willingness to restore normality on the borders, various issues about Peace and the prosperous future of both peoples. pic.twitter.com/ZK3cBE8JdO
– Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) June 22, 2022
The border between Colombia and Venezuela was for a few months since February 2019 when the entry of humanitarian aid from that country and through other borders was attempted, in a movement that was led by the politician Juan Guaidó, recognized by the administration of Iván Duque and part of the international community as president in charge of our country.
Later, the situation at the border worsened with the covid-19 pandemic and Colombia closed its borders in March 2020, although they were opened —although for passage through the ID number terminal— in June of last year.
During his campaign in the first round of the presidential elections, Gustavo Petro said at the beginning of May in Cúcuta that, if he were to win the elections, he would restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela. In his opinion, it was a “mistake” on the part of the Duque government not to have communication with Venezuela. But this was a proposal of the majority of the candidates, since they maintained that it is a necessity.
From the border city of Cúcuta, Petro indicated that this city cannot prosper if there is no communication with Venezuela. In addition, he stressed that “the destinations of Colombia and the other side are following the same paths. They look alike even in their rulers. There is nothing more similar to Maduro in Colombia than Duque.”
Iván Duque, for his part, questioned these proposals at the beginning of June of the candidates for the presidency of Colombia when specifying that one thing is the relationship between countries and, quite another, is the relationship with the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
“Having relations with a criminal dictatorship, with a narco-state like that of Nicolás Maduro, is simply validating those practices that are contrary to International Law and that have led Venezuela to its greatest misfortune,” he said.
After the victory of Gustavo Petro, the first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, hailed the victory of the representative of the “Historic Pact” and said that “it reflects signs of hope, President Petro’s speech speaks of peace, coexistence, respect for human rights. None of that is possible without justice,” added Cabello.
One of Petro’s antecedents that must be taken into account is that the candidate was linked to former President Hugo Chávez and has also been linked to Maduro. However, during his presidential campaign Petro sought to dissociate himself from Nicolás Maduro and went so far as to say that: “He is a guy who has not been able to separate Venezuela from oil, he is a person who is within the leadership of the death policy ».
Carlos Faría, Minister for Foreign Relations, tweeted a statement on June 19, after the victory of Gustavo Petro, where in addition to congratulating him, he expressed the will to “work on the construction of a renewed stage of comprehensive relations for the good common to the nation.”
On behalf of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, we congratulate the people of Colombia for the democratic day held this Sunday, June 19, where the winner was @petrogustavo the destiny of our peoples must be one of cooperation and solidarity pic.twitter.com/BdWW85g6xX
– Carlos Faria (@Fariacrt) June 20, 2022
For his part, the governor of the state of Táchira, Freddy Bernal, had said that the governing entity it was convenient for Gustavo Petro to win, since diplomatic, consular and commercial relations with Venezuela would be reactivated; what Bernal identified as the key to iron out rough edges and finalize the border reactivation.
*Read also Trade between Colombia and Venezuela could triple in 2022 after Petro’s victory
“That there is no coexistence with terrorism”
President Iván Duque met Petro’s statements and assured that the borders between the two nations “are not closed” and affirmed that the most important thing “is that we continue to guarantee, especially on the Venezuelan side, that there is no coexistence with terrorism because there is ‘Pablito’, Antonio García; because there is Iván Márquez ».
Gustavo Aníbal Giraldo is the real name of alias “Pablito”, an ELN commander whose whereabouts have not been known since April 2021; but it is said that he was taken to a health center in San Fernando de Apure after intense abdominal pain.
Duque also said that the conditions are in place for his meeting with Gustavo Petro at the Casa de Nariño.
Hours after learning of the president-elect’s announcement, the president @IvanDuque he replied to Gustavo Petro. #MeConectoConRTVC to know what the president said #Live ?? https://t.co/8j26qToVCP pic.twitter.com/LtwHFax7bF
— RTVC News (@RTVCnoticias) June 22, 2022
Petro and the Venezuelan migrants
The immigration issue was not one of the concerns at the start of the Colombian presidential campaign, for any of the candidates, Gustavo Petro made some allusions, albeit somewhat contradictory.
In October 2020, he said, through a tweet, that one of the ways to prevent Venezuelans from arriving en masse in his country was by selling food to Venezuela.
Then, in February 2021, in another trill he stated that he agreed with the special immigration status for Venezuelans —applied by the outgoing government of Iván Duque— and with a thread on this social network, he detailed that “all treatment of immigrants must be framed in the opening to legality, good treatment and the free decisions of the migrant. Colombia Humana will never be on the side of xenophobic and exclusionary politicians.
Ronald Rodríguez, a political scientist, internationalist and researcher at the Venezuelan Observatory of the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá, told SuchWhich that the issue of Venezuelan migrants was strategically avoided by Petro because it was a sensitive issue that affected the political bases.
Colombia is the country that has received the most Venezuelan migrants; it is estimated that there are more than 1.8 million.
*Read also Venezuelan migration, a topic that Gustavo Petro strategically avoids
Emergency lifted by covid-19
The president of Colombia, Iván Duque, announced that on June 30 the Government lifts the health emergency decree for covid-19; since “there are no longer epidemiological reasons, scientifically analyzed by the epidemiological committee, to maintain the health emergency,” he said.
Duque also took the opportunity to pay tribute to those who died from the coronavirus in his country and in the world; as well as the health professionals who faced the pandemic. “I want to thank all Colombians who during this difficult time in which we had to face so much uncertainty, we were able to start a process of economic reactivation,” said Duque.
He added that they will be “working in a normal situation, but with surveillance by the health authority to continue vaccinating, protecting lives, working with the local governments of the country.”
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