Venezuela and designated foreign minister of Colombia announce appointment of ambassadors

Venezuela’s foreign minister and Colombia’s foreign minister-designate announced Thursday that they will appoint ambassadors after several years without diplomatic relations, and that they will work to maintain security along the long binational border.

Carlos Faría, Venezuelan Foreign Minister, and Alvaro Leyva, Foreign Minister appointed by the elected president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, made a joint statement after meeting in San Cristóbal, a Venezuelan town near the border.

Petro, who on August 7 will become the first leftist to head the Colombian government, has said he will reopen the border with the OPEC member country.

Relations between the two countries were tense from 2015 until 2019, when they were suspended. In the middle of last year, the authorities allowed pedestrians to cross the border.

Colombia and Venezuela share a 2,219-kilometer border, where there are criminal gangs and guerrilla groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and FARC dissidents, to whom the authorities attribute crimes such as kidnapping, smuggling and drug trafficking.

“Venezuela and Colombia have to march together,” said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in an act broadcast on state television and in which he thanked Petro for Leyva’s presence. He said the officials discussed 14 issues, including “peace and security plans, and the progressive economic and commercial opening of the border.”

Earlier, in a statement read by Leyva, the officials “expressed their willingness to advance in a work agenda for the gradual normalization of binational relations as of August 7 with the appointment of ambassadors and other diplomatic and consular officials.”

They also reaffirmed in the statement “their willingness to make joint efforts to guarantee security and peace on the border of our two countries.”

After reading the communication, the Venezuelan foreign minister said briefly that it had been a “historic” day.

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