Venezuela and Colombia completed the reopening of their common border on Sunday January 1 by restoring the last crossing that was still closed, the Coronel Atanasio Girardot bridge linking the cities of Ureña (Venezuela) and Cucuta (Colombia).
The opening of this international bridge is symbolic because it had never been officially inaugurated. Built in 2016, it was blocked in 2019, on the Venezuelan side, due to growing tensions between the two countries.
Gigantic metal containers were then installed by the Venezuelan military. Caracas intended to prevent the arrival of food and medicine sent by the United States in support of the opposition leader juan guaido. The latter had been recognized by Colombia as “president in charge” of Venezuela, for having questioned the re-election which he considered fraudulent of the head of the socialist state Nicolas Maduro. The recognition of Mr. Guaido by the right-wing former Colombian president Ivan Duque had led to the total closure of border posts to vehicles.
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The opening of other crossing points to the Venezuelan states of Zulia, Apure and Amazonas was also made official on Sunday.
Venezuela and Colombia have restored their relationship last August, after the investiture (August 7) in Bogota of the left-wing president Gustavo Petro, which had pledged to normalize relations with Caracas. On September 26, trucks were allowed to cross the border after seven years of partial closure and three years of total closure for vehicles (it was only open to pedestrians). By reopening their 2,200 km border, Venezuela and Colombia hope to revive their trade which reached 7.2 billion dollars in 2008, but barely 400 million dollars in 2021. Venezuela is also one of the guarantors of the negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN guerrillas.
Mr. Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, traveled to Caracas on November 1 for his first one-on-one meeting with Mr. Maduro since relations resumed.
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