Colombia’s new President Gustavo Petro was on hand as the first truck crossed the Internacional Simón Bolívar Bridge and headed from the Venezuelan border town of San Antonio del Táchira to Cúcuta, Colombia. “This is a historic day for the country, for the region and for America in general,” Petro said at the opening ceremony of the border crossing. “We are resuming relations and taking decisive steps to promote the full and unrestricted opening of the border between fraternal peoples,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro wrote on Twitter.
The approximately 2,200-kilometer border between the two neighboring South American countries had been partially closed for seven years. For three years it was even completely sealed off due to a political ice age. Colombia and Venezuela severed diplomatic ties in 2019. After a brief opening, it was then closed again to slow the spread of the corona virus.
Conciliatory handshake: President Gustavo Petro (left) and Venezuela’s Transport Minister Ramon Araguayan
Venezuela is governed by a socialist in President Nicolás Maduro, while right-wing President Iván Duque ruled in Colombia until August. In 2019, Colombia, like many western countries, did not recognize Maduro’s re-election, but supported the proclamation of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the new president.
Approach after change of power in Bogota
In June, Petro was elected Colombia’s first left-wing president in recent history. In August he succeeded Duque. After that, there was a gradual rapprochement between the two countries, which recently officially resumed diplomatic relations.
Trade between Colombia and Venezuela has declined sharply in recent years, and smuggling in the border area is flourishing. Parts of the region are controlled by criminal organizations. Venezuela has been suffering from a serious political and economic crisis and the bitter power struggle between Maduro and Guaidó for years. More than six million Venezuelans have left the country so far – almost two million now live in Colombia.
Resistance to Petro’s reform plans
In Colombia, meanwhile, thousands of people protested against the reform plans of the new left-wing President Petro. In the capital Bogotá, demonstrators whistled through the old town on Monday to the presidential palace, where they chanted “Petro out”. “Colombia is going under. We can’t let that happen,” said 55-year-old businesswoman Marta Segura, who said she had to lay off two of her seven employees because of a planned tax reform.
Colombians protest in Bogota against the government’s reform efforts
These were the first protests against Petro since he took office in August. There were also demonstrations in other cities such as Medellín or Bucaramanga. In Cali, hundreds of demonstrators dressed in white held up placards with inscriptions such as “Respect for private property” or “Petro encourages crime rather than production”.
Petro’s reform plans include higher taxes for the wealthy, an emergency program against hunger, the move away from oil and gas and the promotion of renewable energies. He is supported by a left-leaning majority in Parliament.
kle/sti (afp, dpa, rtre)
