First modification:
This is the second meeting between the two leaders in nearly two months. The agenda for the meeting, which takes place a few days after the total opening of the joint border and after the Colombian government stumbled over the ceasefire with the ELN, has not yet been made public.
An incredible panorama in the previous Colombian presidential term. A second visit by President Gustavo Petro to Venezuela in just over two months marks the new relations between Bogotá and Caracas. Both parties described the event as an “extraordinary bilateral meeting.”
Petro was received at the Simón Bolívar international airport by his ambassador, Armando Benedetti. He then went to the Miraflores Palace, seat of the Venezuelan Executive, where he was welcomed with military honors.
The agenda of the meeting has not been made public so far, but a pronouncement is expected after the meeting. At the previous meeting, held in the Venezuelan capital, both leaders agreed to strengthen and relaunch joint work in areas such as the economy, migration, binational security, and trade, among others.
Possible topics on the table
There are several issues that may be on the table for Maduro and Petro, such as the status of the Colombian government’s talks with the ELN guerrilla, of which Venezuela is the headquarters and guarantor. Also the most recent opening of the border vehicular bridges.
Earlier, the Colombian diplomatic representative in Caracas affirmed that he accompanied the meeting with “the conviction to continue working for a common agenda between two sister nations.”
After the arrival in 2022 of President Gustavo Petro at the Nariño Palace, relations between the two nations resumed, which was an important recognition of Maduro. Diplomatic ties had been broken since 2019 under the Administration of President Iván Duque, who recognized opposition figure Juan Guaidó as interim Venezuelan head of state.
The story today is different. Guaidó, initially recognized by a large part of the international community, gradually lost strength until he was dismissed by the same Venezuelan opposition. Petro resumed ties with Caracas, which gave a boost to Maduro, who returned to the international scene with the boost that the energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine also gave him.
Venezuela has one of the largest proven oil reserves in the world.
with EFE
