During a ceremony attended by Colombian President Gustavo Petro and representatives of his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro, a first truck passed from Venezuela to Colombia at 12:35 p.m. (4:35 p.m. GMT) via the Simon Bolivar international bridge, located between the city Venezuelan town of San Antonio del Tachira and the Colombian town of Cucuta.

"We resume relations and take firm action to advance the full and absolute opening of the border between brotherly peoples," the Venezuelan president wrote on Twitter.

"It's a historic and extraordinary day!"

In a televised speech, Nicolas Maduro welcomed the "huge step" taken, and sent "to President Gustavo Petro the thanks of more than 30 million Venezuelans".

Asked about a possible date to meet his Venezuelan counterpart, Mr. Petro replied that "there is no date" fixed for the moment.

"I hope that the mass migration that came from Venezuela to here, as in the past from Colombia to there, will now be able to be slowed down", he commented, also pleading for the "necessary integration of the economy of the two countries".

"Another Song"

The reopening of the border to goods transport vehicles is a first step towards the full restoration of trade between the two countries, which in 2008 weighed nearly 7.2 billion dollars.

"The closure (of the border) has done a lot of damage (...) Let's see if from now on we can hear another song," commented Jairo Sayago, a 55-year-old trader from San Antonio.

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Venezuela and Colombia share 2,200 km of an often insecure border, with the presence of irregular groups and guerrillas as well as mafias engaged in smuggling and other crimes.

The two countries were also to resume their direct flights on Monday, between the two capitals in particular.

Caracas and Bogota formally resumed their bilateral relations on Monday August 29 with the installation of respective ambassadors in the two capitals.

Venezuela severed ties with Colombia in 2019 in retaliation for former right-wing conservative President Ivan Duque's support for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The election of Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first left-wing president, changed the situation with a strong desire to normalize relations.

The resumption of diplomatic relations and economic exchanges was a campaign promise of Mr. Petro.

Border crossings for cargo trucks had been restricted since 2015 and blocked since 2019, when amid violent riots, Juan Guaido led a failed attempt to smuggle shipments of food and medicine sent from the United States.

With the tacit agreement of the security forces on both sides, thousands of Venezuelans continued to use the many "trochas", illegal paths dotting the border, often under the control of criminal gangs who control the lucrative traffic there, such as that of the 'essence.

"I want the first beneficiaries to be the people who live on both sides of the border; those who risked their lives on the trails, especially women (...) at the mercy of gangs of all kinds", estimated at this subject President Petro, wishing for a "complete legalization of cultural, economic and population flows".

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In another area, on September 13, the two countries had already announced that Venezuela would be among the "guarantors" of future negotiations by the Colombian government with the guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN, of Guevara inspiration), in the process desired by Mr. Petro, like the one that led to the peace agreement in 2016 with the FARC.

© 2022 AFP