( Spanish) — In an unprecedented event in years, the presidents of Colombia and Venezuela will meet this November 1, as part of Bogotá’s efforts to restore relations with Caracas after years of broken bilateral relations.
Gustavo Petro will travel to Caracas on Tuesday with his team to meet with his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, in the first meeting of presidents since the Colombian president arrived at the Casa de Nariño on August 7.
“The meeting is part of President Gustavo Petro’s leadership to boost the region’s economy and socialize his agenda in favor of the interests of the Latin American bloc and the protection of the Amazon, and as part of the preliminary meetings for COP 27,” says a statement of the Colombian Presidency announcing the meeting.
The meeting is expected to take place this Tuesday in Caracas around noon where Petro will have lunch with Maduro, according to the Casa de Nariño.
a key meeting
The meeting comes at a key moment in the restoration of bilateral relations between Colombia and Venezuela, one of the main bets of the Petro government, with actions that began in August of this year, first with the appointment of ambassadors in the two countries and then, restoring border trade, closed for years.
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro (left), and the Minister of Transportation of Venezuela, Ramón Velásquez, shake hands during the protocol act to reopen the borders of the two countries on September 26, 2022. (Credit: YURI CORTEZ /AFP via Getty Images)
The meeting was held by the president of the ruling National Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, one of the strong men of Chavismo.
“Let the dialogue come with the president of Colombia, welcome, let the dialogue come. Many pending things, how long has it been since neighboring presidents have not met,” said Cabello this Monday.
This is the first meeting between the presidents of Colombia and Venezuela in years. The last time the presidents of the two countries met was in August 2016 when Maduro and then President Juan Manuel Santos met in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, in a private meeting with their respective foreign ministers, María Ángela Holguín and Delcy Rodríguez.
The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and that of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, met for the last time in a private meeting in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, in August 2016. Foreign ministers María Ángela Holguín and Delcy Rodríguez were present at this meeting. (Credit: Colombian Foreign Ministry)
By that time of the meeting between Santos and Maduro, a year had already passed since the closure of the borders, in a decision by Venezuela after a confrontation between Venezuelan security forces and civilians, which Maduro attributed to “paramilitarism” in Colombia and for which He blamed former President Uribe, who at the time denied the accusations.
Venezuela also deported more than a thousand Colombian citizens who lived in Venezuelan territory in the context of this crisis.
The issues that Petro and Maduro will discuss
The bilateral relationship between the two countries will be the main topic of this meeting, according to the Colombian presidency, as well as the reopening of borders, which began in September of this year, and the re-entry of Venezuela to the inter-American human rights system.
But Petro’s arrival in Venezuela this Tuesday is key due to another of his government’s big bets: the peace talks with the ELN, since Venezuela is the host country and the guarantor of this peace process that is expected to start in the next few days. .
On September 14, 2022, President Gustavo Petro asked Maduro to be a guarantor in an eventual peace process with the guerrilla group. A request that Maduro immediately agreed to.
In the protocols agreed with the government of Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018), it was established that Venezuela was the agreed country for the return of the ELN peace delegates in case the process broke down or if they needed to return to consult with his troops.
And the role of this country in peace in Colombia has been very important. He has not only been a mediator, but also an observer and companion in other attempts at peace talks with armed groups and the governments of Colombia, such as in the peace with the FARC signed in 2016, in the release of hostages in the first decade of 2000 and the M-19 peace negotiations in the 1990s.
The Amazon and Latin America, another key issue
In addition to bilateral issues such as politics, peace and trade, Petro and Maduro will also discuss two important issues for the region: the protection of the Amazon and “the interests of the Latin American bloc” will be discussed at this meeting, according to the statement from the Presidency. from Colombia.
With the return of Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva after his victory in the Brazilian elections this weekend, peter has spoken of an “integrated electrical energy network of America with clean energies” and “Latin American economic integration”, since the Latin American bloc has now turned towards mostly leftist governments. He also said that Scientific research and the Amazon “rescue” It will be one of the key issues with Brazil, a region that it also shares with Venezuela.
And Diosdado Cabello has “imagined” a summit where Lula, Petro and Maduro are present.
This is expected to be one more step towards the recovery of relations between the two countries, which were at their worst in the last four years, especially in 2019 when opposition activists tried to send aid trucks from Colombia. The Maduro government said it was a front for an attempted coup, Reuters reported.
Previous governments in Bogotá have accused Maduro of harboring Colombian rebel groups and criminals, charges he has denied.
Bilateral trade amounted to $7 billion in 2008, before then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez froze it in protest at a military deal between Bogota and Washington.
According to the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, trade between Colombia and Venezuela this year reaches US$449.7 million, an increase of 95.5%.
