Gustavo Petro’s government: Venezuela received the first Colombian ambassador in three years

For the first time in over three years an ambassador from Colombia is accepted by Venezuela taking a fundamental step in re-establishing diplomatic relations with neighboring countries.

Armando Benedetti On Monday he delivered letters of credentials to Caracas accrediting him as ambassador to Venezuela after arriving in the country on Sunday. It remains that with the designated ambassador of Venezuela, the former foreign minister Felix Plasencia, the same protocol act will take place in Bogotá.

The bilateral relationship with the government of Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president in the history of Colombia, is renewed, which took a turn by recognizing Nicolás Maduro as a legitimate president of Venezuela and not the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, as his predecessor Iván Duque (2018-2022) did.

After three years of frozen diplomatic relations, the commercial break in 2015 is added when Maduro ordered the closure of border crossings, leaving Colombia without its most important trading partner. The bridges remain blocked and allow only pedestrian crossing, not freight transport.

The boundaries

Aneta Ikonomova Gueorguieva, an international relations specialist, told The Associated Press that the breakup caused a devastating effect on both countriesespecially in the economy of the border towns which now needs to be revitalized.

In addition, the lack of official communication created a gap in the shared border of 2,200 kilometers which fed illegal crossings – called trochas – controlled by illegal armed groups responsible for smuggling, drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.

The last breaking point between the two countries was in February 2019, when Maduro broke off relations and ordered the Colombian diplomatic corps to leave Venezuela in 24 hours.

Maduro accused the Duque government of lends its territory to attack Venezuela after the opposition tried to bring humanitarian aid across the border and organized a “Venezuela Aid Live” concert with Duque’s support.

At that time, Colombia recognized Guaidó and Duque drove what he called into the region a “diplomatic encirclement” which demanded the removal of Maduro from power, aligned with the United States, their traditional ally, and a country that in recent years has imposed harsh sanctions on Venezuela.

Maduro and Petro

The day before, Benedetti indicated that he will speak with Maduro about an upcoming presidential meeting with Petro.

Rafael Piñeros, coordinator of international relations at the Externado University of Colombia, told the AP that after diplomatic and political progress will continue other challenges related to the recovery of institutionalitythat is, to reopen the consular office – in Colombia one of them was burned and sacked -, to take possession of the staff and to resolve the accumulated trials of thousands of migrants.

Also, Piñera believes it the two countries must reconstruct the speeches, because for years they have exchanged public complaints. Caracas accused the Colombian government of allegedly an accomplice of paramilitarism and of wanting to overthrow it under the auspices of the United States, while Bogotá accused Maduro of being a dictator.

Benedetti was appointed by Petro to lead this transition. During the presidential campaign he became Petro’s right hand man, he was in charge of his agenda and accompanied him on tour around the country in search of voters. He is an experienced politician who comes from traditional parties and not from the left, like Petro.

The new ambassador is known for his relationship with power. as a deputy first he supported the government of Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), a strong political opponent of Petro, and later supported the candidacy of the next president Juan Manuel Santos, who soon turned away from Uribe despite being chosen as his political heir.

During the Duque government, Benedetti kept his distance from the then president and later joined Petro in his presidential candidacy.

Source: AP and EFE

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