First modification: 23/06/2022 – 00:59
–
The elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, reported having contacted the Government of the neighboring country in order to seek the reopening of the borders between the two nations. It was a telephone call, confirmed by the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, who said that the talk discussed “peace and the prosperous future of both peoples.” The rapprochement could end the deadlock in diplomatic relations, broken since 2019.
Just three days after Gustavo Petro won the elections for the Presidency of Colombia, the elected leader reported having established contact with the Government of the neighboring country.
“I have communicated with the Venezuelan government to open the borders and restore the full exercise of human rights on the border,” Gustavo Petro wrote on his Twitter account.
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
After this publication, Petro expanded the information to local Colombian media, to whom he said that normalizing relations is not something that is done “overnight,” but rather it is a process that must start “from the well-being of the people, starting with the people on the border”.
Likewise, the president-elect assured that it is necessary to restore the human rights of the population that inhabits the border between the two nations and said that the two States should work on that joint objective.
The reestablishment of relations, as well as the opening of borders, are two campaign promises made by the leftist, who maintains that only in this way can the economy of the city of Cúcuta be reactivated, a city of great importance for Colombian trade, which has been affected after the closure of the border crossing.
Both Petro and his rival in the second round of Sunday’s elections, Rodolfo Hernández, had promised to reopen the borders if elected.
Maduro: “We discussed the willingness to restore normality at the borders”
For its part, the statement on the talk by the Government of Venezuela was not long in coming. President Nicolás Maduro spoke on social networks regarding the telephone meeting.
“I spoke with the elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, and on behalf of the Venezuelan people, I congratulated him on his victory. We discussed the willingness to restore normalcy at the borders, various issues about peace and the prosperous future of both peoples,” Maduro said.
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
Iván Duque assures that the “border is open”
The outgoing president of Colombia, Iván Duque, assured after the news of the conversation between Petro and Maduro that the Colombian borders with Venezuela have been open for months.
The president made this precision, since in part of the border with Venezuela, specifically in the Guajira region, the passage of vehicles and people is allowed, while at the border crossings in the regions of Norte de Santander, Arauca, Vichada and Guainía there is only transit of people.
“The borders have not been closed, the borders have been open. The important thing is that we continue to guarantee, especially on the Venezuelan side, that there is no collusion with terrorism.”
Those were the comments of the current president, who specifically requested the return of former leaders of the demobilized FARC guerrillas, who according to the president, are in Venezuelan territory and asked “that (the Venezuelan authorities) return them, that they send them, capture and extradite them,” he said.
Expectation about the reopening of the border
The eventual reopening of the border opens a light of hope for the border territories and mainly for economic reactivation.
Colombia and Venezuela share a 2,219 kilometer border. Both countries are connected by the Simón Bolívar International Bridge, which connects Cúcuta and Villa del Rosario on the Colombian side with the Venezuelan side of San Antonio and San Cristóbal. Areas considered strategic and that also concentrate a large commercial exchange.
According to the projections of the Colombo-Venezuelan Chamber (CCV), the possible reopening can be considered a resurgence in trade in goods and services of approximately between 800 million and 1,200 million dollars.
The Colombian-Venezuelan border has been closed to vehicles since August 2015 by decision of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who had previously expelled thousands of Colombians from the Venezuelan side of the border.
Subsequently, on February 23, 2019, Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with the Duque government, amid an escalation of tensions over the Colombian president’s recognition of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president.
With Reuters, EFE and local media
–
