Venezuela to let deported Colombians return after border dispute
Source: Reuters
World | Mon Sep 28, 2015 5:23pm EDT
Venezuela to let deported Colombians return after border dispute
CARACAS
President Nicolas Maduro will let over 1,500 deported Colombians return to Venezuela and legalize their status, regional bloc UNASUR said on Monday, in a further easing of tensions between the two South American neighbors.
The 12-country Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) said in a statement Maduro agreed to the measure after a meeting with its secretary general, Ernesto Samper, a former Colombian president, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The detente comes a week after leftist Maduro and his right-wing Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos met and agreed to restore ambassadors while working towards "normalizing" the turbulent border area.
That followed weeks of diplomatic acrimony after Maduro in August shut border crossings with Colombia in what he called a crackdown on smuggling and crime. Around 1,608 Colombians were deported and another 17,000 voluntarily returned to their homeland, according to the United Nations.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/28/us-venezuela-colombia-idUSKCN0RS2L020150928