The Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino Lopezreported this Tuesday that, by order of President Nicolás Maduro, will establish contact “immediately” with his Colombian counterpart, Minister Iván Velásquez Gómez, to “reestablish” military relations between both nations.
“I have received instructions from the commander in chief of the FANB (Bolivarian National Armed Forces), Nicolás Maduro, to establish immediate contact with the Colombian Minister of Defense to restore our military relations“said the military chief, quoted on Twitter by the press department of the Armed Force.
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Both Maduro and the new president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, they had anticipated that they would restore at all levels, since the investiture of the latter last Sunday, diplomatic relations, broken since 2019 due to the differences between Chavismo and the Administration of former President Iván Duque.
Padrino’s statements, offered in the framework of an act of delivery and reception of deputy ministries in the state of Lara, in western Venezuela, They coincide with Maduro’s most recent call to his Colombian counterpart to “rebuild brotherhood” between the two countries.
After Petro’s investiture ceremony, The Venezuelan president congratulated the leftist and reiterated that he was extending his hand “to rebuild the brotherhood based on respect and love among peoples”.
Colombia and Venezuela, which they share a border of 2,219 kilometershave not had diplomatic relations since they were broken on February 23, 2019 by order of the Venezuelan president, amid an escalation of tensions with his Colombian counterpart at the time, Iván Duque, for his support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
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Since then, The Government of Venezuela has accused Duque of having terrorist plans against him and undertook a military campaign in the border towns to fight the “tancol”, an acronym invented by them that does not refer to any specific gang and that means “Colombian Drug Trafficking Armed Terrorists”.
