Venezuela and Colombia on Sunday restored full diplomatic relations after a three-year break, as a new leftist government in Bogota takes shape.
“Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us,” new Colombian Ambassador to Venezuela Armando Benedetti wrote on Twitter after arriving in Caracas.
He was welcomed by Colombian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Rander Pena Ramirez, who wrote on Twitter that “our historical ties summon us to work together for the happiness of our peoples.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Aug. 11 that they planned to restore diplomatic relations that were severed in 2019.
That rupture was the culmination of years of tension between leftist Venezuela and Colombia under successive conservative presidents, starting with Alvaro Uribe. Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.
Even the 2,000km land border between the two countries was closed between 2019 and October last year, when it was opened to pedestrians only.
The last president in Colombia, Ivan Duque, did not recognize Maduro as president, but rather opposition leader Juan Guaido. Colombia was one of about 60 countries to do so.
In addition to exchanging ambassadors, the normalization process is to include the full reopening of the border, which has remained largely closed to vehicles.
Caracas and Bogota have also announced intentions to restore military relations.
Benedetti said more than 8 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 trade that reached US$7.2 billion in 2008, but collapsed with the border closure.
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