The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela met on their border Thursday to sign an agreement designed to improve trade between the two countries and eliminate import tariffs on dozens of manufactured goods.
The agreement comes as relations between the two countries improve after the election of Colombia’s first leftist president. Colombia and Venezuela recently opened their border bridges to commercial cargo trucks for the first time in seven years.
“It is not just about facilitating trade, but also facilitating the movement of people between the two countries,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro. “There must be legality here, so that people’s rights are protected.”
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Trade between Colombia and Venezuela fell sharply after 2015 amid political disputes that led to frequent border closures.
Left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro has met with embattled Venezuelan Prime Minister Nicolás Maduro to liberalize trade between the two nations. (Juan Cano/Press Office of the Colombian Presidency via AP)
In 2019, Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, closed the border for months, placing containers on the bridges connecting the countries and severing diplomatic relations.
Maduro acted after Colombia’s then-conservative government and the United States recognized Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader and tried to help him bring truckloads of humanitarian aid to the cash-strapped country.
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Last year, Colombia and Venezuela renewed diplomatic relations after Petro’s election as Colombia’s president.
Petro has recognized Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and backed away from US-led efforts to isolate Venezuela’s authoritarian government.
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Colombia’s new president has said he would like to convince Venezuela to rejoin the inter-American human rights system, and has also called on Venezuela to assist Colombia in efforts to negotiate a peace agreement with the National Liberation Army, a group rebel who is present on both sides. from the border
