(Caracas) Caracas has taken steps to restore “military relations” with Bogota, the Venezuelan Defense Minister announced on Tuesday, confirming a warming between the two countries after the election in Colombia of Gustavo Petro which could put an end to years of estrangement.
Posted at 11:25 p.m.
“I have received instructions” from President Nicolas Maduro “to immediately establish contact with the Colombian Ministry of Defense in order to restore our military relations,” Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino Lopez said, according to the account. Ministry Twitter.
“We have to start working. This does not mean that there will be a political change and that the changes will happen immediately, that does not exist. We have to take it little by little […] with great caution, great tact […] for us to assume the new realities on the border with Colombia,” he continued.
Following Colombia’s election of the left-wing president after years in power from a hard-right wing, the two countries announced they would resume broken diplomatic ties in 2019.
Mr Petro told reporters that the contacts were part of a “normalization process” and that “in two months we may have settled the most important issues”.
The two countries agreed to restore relations at the ambassadorial level with the arrival in power of Mr. Petro last Sunday, after the interruption caused by the recognition by the outgoing administration of Ivan Duque of the leader of the Venezuelan opposition. Juan Guaidó as “interim president”.
“As long as relations are not normalized, there will be no ambassadors,” nuanced Mr. Petro, who denied press reports of an imminent meeting with Nicolas Maduro.
The two neighbors share a porous border of more than 2000 km where violence is often rife with guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers or smugglers of contraband goods.
Caracas and Bogota accused each other of maintaining a climate of insecurity in the area. In March 2021, fighting in Apure (southwest) between Venezuelan soldiers and groups of Colombian irregulars left 16 soldiers dead and led to the displacement of thousands of civilians.
The Colombian forces have denounced the violations of their territory by the Venezuelan military.
The border between the two countries remained completely closed until a relaxation in October 2021.
The closure of crossing points has led to the opening of alternative routes, called “trochas”, through which thousands of people and millions of dollars in contraband goods pass.