New Colombian ambassador Armando Benedetti arrived in Caracas on Sunday and says in a clip that relations should never have been severed.
— We are brothers and a made-up line can never separate us.
Relations have been frozen since 2019 when then Colombian President Iván Duque refused to recognize the re-election of Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolás Maduro.
But with Colombia’s new left-wing leader Gustavo Petro winning the presidential election, both countries announced at the end of July that embassies in their respective countries would reopen.
Hoping for a trade
One hope is that trade between the countries will now pick up speed. Colombia exported 6.1 billion dollars to Venezuela in 2008, a figure that dropped to 331 million last year. Assessors on both sides believe trade between the countries could reach $1.2 billion if cross-border trade now picks up.
In border towns, ceremonies have been planned and stores have built up stocks in anticipation of a boost in trade across the border, but the opening of the border has not been as fast as many had hoped.
The Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce urges reasonable expectations. The country’s economy has shrunk, consumers are not as powerful as before relations froze, and import capacity is therefore limited, the chamber believes.
Several aggravating circumstances
According to people with knowledge of the matter, Maduro has been concerned about how the influx of Colombian goods will affect Venezuela’s economic recovery, and the opening has also raised questions about how trade will affect the trade agreements that Maduro has signed in recent years with political allies such as Iran and Turkey.
The black trade that has developed in the border area can also be challenging to deal with.
— I worry when I hear people say that they want to strengthen both countries’ current trade relationship, because unfortunately these are informal relationships. What we want to rebuild are formal relations, with equal conditions for all, without setbacks, says Tiziana Polesel, head of the Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce.