4 Years after diplomatic rupture, Colombia-Venezuela ties on firm footing

Online News Editor
February 23, 2023

By Sabela Bello and Jaime Ortega

Bogota/Caracas, Feb 23 (EFE).- Four years to the day since Colombia and Venezuela severed diplomatic ties, the two countries have effected a 180-degree shift in their relationship since the election of leftist Gustavo Petro and are pursuing integration on different fronts.

The already tense bilateral ties were broken off completely on Feb. 23, 2019, when the US-backed, self-proclaimed “interim president” of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, tried to enter that country from the Colombian city of Cucuta at the head of a humanitarian caravan, an attempt that led to disturbances on the border.

Colombia’s support for that failed operation led Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to sever diplomatic and consular ties with the neighboring country, whose then-President Ivan Duque had predicted days earlier that time was running out for the Venezuelan “dictatorship.”

“It’s clear that the previous government’s policy was not the right one,” Julio Londoño Paredes, a former Colombian foreign minister who is now dean of the School of Political Science, Government and International Relations at Bogota’s Universidad del Rosario.

More:
https://www.laprensalatina.com/4-years-after-diplomatic-rupture-colombia-venezuela-ties-on-firm-footing/