Colombia and Venezuela restore diplomatic ties after three years

Americas, News August 31, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The Colombian envoy arrived in Venezuela on August 29 as two neighboring countries normalized diplomatic relations with each other after three years of gap.

The full restoration of the diplomatic relations between the two countries resumed after three years break since the new leftist government took charge in Bogota.

Colombia has appointed Aasrmando Benedetti as the new ambassador to Venezuela. Upon arriving in Caracas, Benedetti tweeted that “Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us.” Benedetti was welcomed by Venezuela’s Deputy Foreign Minister Rander Pena Ramirez. Venezuela also appointed the country’s former Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia as ambassador to Colombia.

Benedetti said more than eight million Colombians make a living from trade with Venezuela, which is why one of the objectives is to re-establish trade relations between the two countries. A similar expectation exists on the Venezuelan side, where industrialists want to normalize the trade that reached $7.2 billion in 2008 but collapsed with the border closure.

The rapture in the diplomatic relations between the two countries surfaced after years of tensions that initially started between Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro and Colombia’s former conservative President Alvaro Uribe.

Venezuela completely severed its diplomatic ties with Bogota in 2019 after members of the Venezuelan opposition tried to enter Colombian territory with trucks loaded with food and medicine.

The two countries share a 2000 kilometers long land border which was also shut down after the diplomatic relations were cut off in 2019. However, later in October 2021, the border was opened at some places but only for pedestrians to cross. The last president in Colombia, Ivan Duque, also did not recognize Maduro as president but instead backed the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in his claims that he is the rightful and interim President of Venezuela.

Colombia was one of the 60 countries in the world to reject Venezuela’s 2018 Presidential election, which was also boycotted by the country’s opposition.

*^{President of Colombia Gustavo Petro. (Image Credit: Reuters)}*

Since Colombia’s new left-wing President Gustavo Petro took control of the office on August 7, 2022, he announced that his government would restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Petro is Colombia’s first leftist President.

In addition to opening embassies and consulates, the two countries have also agreed to fully open the border for large vehicles. The two sides have also shown interest in restoring military ties with each other.