The new ambassador of Colombia in Caracas, Armando Benedetti, spoke with EL TIEMPO about what is coming for the country after announcing the reopening of the border with Venezuela on September 26.
(Read: Colombia and Venezuela: an unequal commercial reopening).
The senior official clarified that this decision implies the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, commercial exchange; re-establish cargo and passenger transport; aerial; the authorization of new steps and the coordinated work with the Public Force; and migration, among other points.
He also assured that one of the biggest challenges is set up consulates since “they left more than 4 million Colombians abandoned in Venezuela”. Benedetti assures that they are in poor condition because all their infrastructure is lost.
This implies that new premises are sought to be put into operation gradually. In principle they will start with those from Caracas and gradually those from San Cristobal, Puerto Ayacucho, Maracaibo and Puerto Ordaz.
Along with this, the most recent reports inform that the infrastructure of the bridges and border roads should be reviewed. Benedetti also assured that when Petro returns from the United Nations, the House of Nariño will establish the date on which he will return.He will meet his counterpart Nicolás Maduro.
(Also: The requests that Petro made to strengthen the popular economy).
Border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela.
Andres Carvajal
“80% of Colombians approve of the reestablishment of relations with Venezuela. In fact, it is one of the most important decisions made by President Petro since his inauguration. We start from scratch and we have a great challenge ahead, even titanic“added the ambassador.
Now, another key point is Venezuela’s debts with Colombian businessmen. Faced with this dilemma, the senior official explained that it is a planned issue on the agenda so that the entrepreneurs recover their assets.
(Read: Inflation in Venezuela rises to 17.3% in August).
The same with the assets that were expropriated. “It is one of the priorities on the agenda and from next week we will begin to deal with the different authorities of the Venezuelan government,” he assured.
BRIEFCASE
With information from EL TIEMPO*
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