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Before taking office on August 7, the first thing Colombia's leftist president-elect Gustavo Petro did was call his Venezuelan friend Nicolás Maduro to talk about reopening the binational border, closed by the Government of Iván Duque due to bilateral tensions between the two countries and due to Covid.
The reopening of the border between the South American countries, which totals 2.341 kilometers and also implies the resumption of diplomatic relations, was one of Petro's electoral promises before winning the Presidency of Colombia with 50,44% of the votes this Sunday. .
What drew attention this Wednesday is that the president-elect revealed his communication with the Chavista president through his Twitter account, which shows his close ties with the Bolivarian regime.
"I communicated with the Venezuelan government to open the borders and restore the full exercise of human rights on the border," Petro wrote.
I have communicated with the Venezuelan government to open the borders and restore the full exercise of human rights on the border.
– Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) June 22, 2022
In the 23 years that Chavismo has been ruling in Venezuela, relations with its neighbor have been accidental and suspended on several occasions to the point that there are no diplomatic representations in their respective embassies and there is no migratory, commercial, land or air passage. Before bilateral relations were broken, the land border between the cities of Cúcuta and those of San Antonio and San Cristóbal, on the Venezuelan side, was the most dynamic and intense in the Andean area, which represented a commercial exchange of 7.000 million dollars.
Maduro's request
Two days ago, the regime of Nicolás Maduro had asked Petro to address this issue: “The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela expresses the strongest will to work on the construction of a step to renew comprehensive relations for the common good of the nation we share. sheltered in two sovereign republics, whose destiny can never be indifference, but solidarity, cooperation and peace of brother peoples”, indicated the official communication.
Juan Guaidó, leader of the Venezuelan opposition and recognized as president of Venezuela in more than 50 countries, has also spoken out about Petro's victory, highlighting the holding of free and fair elections in Colombia and underlining his desire that Venezuela be able to do so. also.
“We advocate that the management of the new president Gustavo Petro maintain the protection of vulnerable Venezuelans in his country and accompany the struggle of Venezuela to recover its democracy. Venezuela and Colombia are sister countries with the same roots and historical struggles,” he wrote on Twitter.
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