The Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, met with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, in Caracas, to determine the work agenda established by both countries to reestablish bilateral relations.
From the Miraflores Palace, the Bolivarian president maintained that he agrees on several issues with Petro, who assumed power in Colombia last August and has expressed his intentions to reconcile relations with Venezuela.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Venezuela
“We have had a fruitful, intense, and extensive day with President Gustavo Petro, with his delegation. We have discussed various issues of bilateral cooperation,” Maduro said at a time that seems to mark the beginning of a new phase of political, diplomatic, and economic relations between the two nations.
In his speech, the Venezuelan president emphasized that the meeting was held to seek the common good of the two people.
The topics that were discussed were various, from trade and the economy to “the new steps towards a total and secure opening of the borders between Colombia and Venezuela.”
The meeting between Maduro and Petro takes place after almost three years of fractured bilateral relations, a rupture that began during the government of Iván Duque (2018-2022) when he supported Juan Guaidó’s attempts to proclaim himself president.
However, the arrival of Gustavo Petro, an old social fighter and man of the left, motivated the reestablishment of relations.
On September 26 of this year, both countries agreed to reopen the Colombian-Venezuelan border that had closed for 7 years.
However, Petro has stated that different organized crime groups have taken over the border.
“The border is in the hands of the mafias; it was left in the hands of what we call multi-crime organizations and whose head, whose head is already multinational. It is the expression of a war on drugs failure, ” the Colombian president assured.
Petro recalled that Venezuela and Colombia share the same roots and the same history, for which he condemned any attempt at separation.
“Separating the nations becomes a suicidal adventure. I would not use pejoratives, which they well deserve because whatever the political forms adopted in one or another nation, the friendship of both peoples must be maintained.”
“That was taught to us by the Europeans who killed each other by tens of millions: 17 million in World War I and 50 [million] in World War II,” said the Colombian president.
He added, referring to the democratic achievement that is the European Union (EU):
“Today [the Europeans] have understood that their way is the good neighbor. The businesses that are strengthened within the neighborhood, and they call that globalization, paradoxically. And the articulation in a common policy, in an integration that goes far beyond what we have achieved in Latin America. Despite our talk, the Europeans have done more.”
With information from Sputnik