This is the front page of the press in Colombia and Venezuela: the arrival of two ambassadors in Caracas and Bogotá marks the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between the two neighboring countries. The Spectator recalls the reasons for this rupture, culmination of two-decade clashes between Venezuela’s ruling chavismo and the right wing of former presidents Uribe and Duque ” in Colombia. A break consummated when former President Duque chose in 2019, like a good part of the international community, not to recognize Nicolás Maduro as president, but rather the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Today, it is a left-wing Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, who is to meet Nicolás Maduro by the end of the year. Félix Plasencia, the new Venezuelan representative in Bogotá, sees in it “ a second chance given by history “. He estimates, reports El Periodiquito, that the two countries are brothers ” and ” cannot be separated by politics “. The diplomat had already been ambassador to Russia and China, before being appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The emergency : restore trade
After restoring the headquarters of Venezuelan diplomacy north of Bogotá, which is ” practically destroyed ” according El Tiempo, he intends to restore trade relations. Same thing for his Colombian counterpart, in Caracas, Armando Benedetti. Upon his arrival in Caracas, the latter notably raised the idea of a special economic zone on the border, which would guarantee exceptional conditions for trade and investment on both sides. An excerpt from the interview is published by Universal. The former journalist, who must present his credentials to President Maduro on Monday afternoon, assures that more than 8 million Colombians live from binational trade with Venezuela.
Colombia : the end of the Truth Commission
This weekend, the Truth Commission officially ended its work. The Spectator wonders, in its editorial, about the legacy of this Commission which is tiptoeing away ” after delivering 23 volumes to the country, some 10 000 report pages “. A ” titanic account of what happened during the armed conflict in Colombia for half a century. The Commission was created during the 2016 peace agreements between the Colombian government and the ex-guerrilla Farc. Despite the controversies, the newspaper sees in its long investigation, a ” essential contribution to reconciliation and even a model for the world. ” Now that the truth exists », concludes The Spectator, ” it is up to us to build the future “.
Brazil : the Bolsonaro-Lula duel becomes clearer
First televised debate, Sunday evening, between the presidential candidates of October 2. This debate was marked, according to O Globo, by ” the polarization between former President Lula and current President Jair Bolsonaro, far from the other competitors in the polls “. For Folha de Sao Paolo, the meeting has exposed their weaknesses without changing the game. The two candidates accused each other of all the evils. According to a poll carried out in the process, it is another candidate who has managed to pull out of the game: the centrist Simone Tebet.
Haiti : terror, how far ?
In Haiti, Le Nouvelliste looks back at the funeral, Saturday, of Josette Desanclos and her two daughters, killed and then burned in Croix-des-Bouquets, a week earlier. No coffin, but funeral urns and photos of the three murdered women, writes the journalist who reports the words of Me Desanclos, husband and father of the victims. ” Death awaits us in every nook and cranny “, did he declare. ” Looks like the Haitians are definitely walking arm in arm with their coffin and everyone is peacefully waiting to be the next victim. “. A family friend adds: The capital is besieged by gangs with or without diplomas “. ” They abduct us peacefully, rape us and kill us coldly, without any fear of being prosecuted, arrested, judged and sentenced “, he lamented.
How to get out of the terror instilled by these ” legal bandits »? This is the question posed in one ofAlterpress, by Jhon Picard Biron, research professor at the State University of Haiti. This terror is one of the direct consequences, one of the results, of the instrumentalization of thugs playing caïd (…) by certain leaders, movements and political parties “. ” The political actors who have not made use of it are not legion “and the situation” has increased enormously during this last decade of exercise of state power by the PHTK (Michel Martelly, Jovenel Moïse and Ariel Henry) “, specifies the researcher.
According to him, in investing the state apparatus, organized crime, organized crime, offered itself the shield of legality “. For him, a effective response can only be political with absolute priority : liberate the state apparatus from the grip of serious crime. This requires a broad socio-political consensus which implies a clear commitment of political actors around this priority. It is also up to the business sector to no longer feign ignorance or innocence “.