Venezuela announces resumption of military ties with Colombia

(CNN Spanish) — Venezuela announced the resumption of military ties with Colombia two days after the inauguration. Gustavo Pedro as president.

“I have received instructions from CJ FANB @Nicolasmaduro to establish immediate contact with the Colombian Ministry of Defense to restore our military relations.” revealed on Twitter Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

Pedro’s statements came after a relationship and bilateral trust strained by the actions of past governments — President Ivan Duque and his campaign to oust the dubious President Nicolás Maduro, known as a diplomatic blockade. A cautious optimism and hope that they may lead to normalization of bilateral relations.

Relations between Colombia and Venezuela have been in crisis since 2015, and the situation worsened in 2020 due to the pandemic, as Colombia ordered the closure of border crossings as a health measure.

The border between Colombia and Venezuela, where people and goods have crossed for centuries, was closed by the government of Nicolás Maduro in 2015 after clashes between Venezuelan security forces and civilians, which Maduro called “paramilitarism” in Colombia. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe denied the allegations at the time.

During the Duque government, the President of Colombia was one of the regional leaders who promoted the so-called Lima Group. It emerged on August 8, 2017 with the aim of seeking a peaceful solution to the crisis in Venezuela, with the subscription of several right-wing governments in the region, which endorsed the Maduro government politically and economically.

Following his election victory in June, Pedro announced the reopening of the border with Venezuela. Although the land border between Colombia and Venezuela remains open, the goal is to fully open it and restore bilateral trade.

Trade has been hit hard by problems along the Colombian-Venezuelan border. In 2008, trade between the two countries was around 7.2 billion USD, in 2015 it was around 1.331 billion USD and in 2020 it was just 221 million USD. And the pandemic worsened border crossing closures.

With information from Melissa Velasquez