Venezuela, Colombia Restore Full Diplomatic Relations As Maduro Meets New Colombian Ambassador
© AP Photo / Ariana Cubillos
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The restoration of diplomatic ties heralds a new beginning in relations between former rivals Colombia and Venezuela–and possibly the beginning of the end for Colombia's status as a permanent US neocolony.
Neighboring Venezuela and Colombia restored full diplomatic relations following the arrival of Colombia’s newly-appointed Ambassador Armando Benedetti on Sunday.
“Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed,” Benedetti wrote on Twitter Sunday. “We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us.”
Nos dirigimos a esta hora a Venezuela con la misión de trabajar por reconstruir los lazos con nuestro vecino y reparar los daños generados en los corazones de nuestros pueblos a raíz de una ruptura de relaciones de que jamás debió ocurrir. pic.twitter.com/iXQmIFp20F
— Armando Benedetti (@AABenedetti) August 28, 2022
Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Rander Peña echoed the sentiment when he tweeted about his meeting with Benedetti Monday:
“On behalf of President @NicolasMaduro we welcomed to the country Armando Benedetti, Designated Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” Pena wrote.
“Our historical ties call us to work together for the happiness of our peoples. Welcome!”
Ties between the two states were severed following the recognition by Colombia’s far-right Duque administration of Venezuelan presidential pretender Juan Guaidó in 2019. Relations bottomed out after a group based in Colombia unsuccessfully carried out a drone-based attempt on the life of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in 2018–which failed to injure its target but succeeded in injuring seven soldiers.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro unharmed after an assassination attemp by drones pic.twitter.com/AMBZTEu6An
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) August 5, 2018
Former US-backed Colombian President Iván Duque’s harsh crackdowns on 2021’s protests and his refusal to address economic issues led to a severe reduction in popularity, and his party was voted out of office in late May.
While in office, Duque justified his cessation of relations with Venezuela by accusing Maduro of carrying out “crimes against humanity” and being “the Latin American Putin.”
On Monday, Benedetti met with President Maduro and exchanged a warm handshake with the Venezuelan head of state in Caracas–an extraordinarily friendly interaction that left little doubt about the future of relations between the two important South American countries.
The cessation of diplomatic relations by then-Colombian president Duque in 2019 has had an enormously destructive impact on social and economic relations between the neighboring countries. Smugglers, narco-traffickers, and paramilitaries alike have thrived by taking advantage of both poorly-patrolled routes and the break in diplomacy, in the absence of coordinated border surveillance.
