Venezuela and Colombia have formally renewed their diplomatic relations, broken for three years, with the arrival in Caracas on Sunday August 28 of the Colombian ambassador designated by the new President Gustavo Petro.
"Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed, we are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us," tweeted Ambassador Armando Benedetti.
Our leaders have this time in Venezuela with the mission of working to rebuild the lazos with new life and repair the damage generated in the areas of the new pueblos due to a rupture of relations that jamás debió ocurrir.
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— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) August 28, 2022
According to the diplomat, more than 8 million Colombians live from bilateral trade with Venezuela.
One of the objectives of this resumption of relations is to restore trade relations between the two countries.
The Colombian-Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce predicts trade of $800 million to $1.2 billion in 2022, after reaching around $400 million the previous year.
Venezuela and Colombia announced on August 11 their intention to exchange ambassadors.
The normalization process provides for the complete reopening of the border of more than 2,000 km which separates the two countries, completely closed to vehicles since 2015 and reopened only to pedestrians since the end of 2021. Caracas and Bogota also intend to restore their military relations.
Caracas severed diplomatic ties with Bogotá in February 2019 when right-wing Colombian President Ivan Duque failed to recognize Nicolas Maduro's re-election and backed opposition leader Juan Guaido's proclamation as interim president.
With AFP
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