Colombia and Venezuela press on with 'brotherly' ties

Venezuela and Colombia have taken further steps to improve diplomatic ties after a series of bitter disputes.

Meeting in Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, signed several trade accords.

The two nations restored relations in August, shortly after Mr Santos took office.

Ties were severed when his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, accused Venezuela of harbouring Colombian rebels.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11682403

I'm sure the Colombians are going to be playing very nice as long as Venezuela owes them so much money. They have restructured their trade so they are not as dependent on exports to Venezuela (I suspect some of this involves shipping goods to Brazil and then re-exporting them from Brazil to Venezuela).

The recent Colombian Supreme Court decision to void the base agreement Uribe signed with the US also helps. The old base agreement the US had with Colombia is still effective.

Too bad the California amendment to legalize pot failed, we could save a lot of money if we legalize pot and tax it, and it will make US involvement in Colombia a lot less expensive and controversial.