The recently inaugurated Government of Gustavo Petro in Colombia appointed its ambassador to Venezuela this Thursday hours after Nicolás Maduro, president of that country, announced the name of his ambassador to Colombia.
The actions represent a step in the restoration of relations between the two countries that since 2019 broke diplomatic ties when the then Colombian president, Iván Duque, supported Juan Guaidó, appointed as interim president.
Petro appointed former senator Armando Benedetti to whom he entrusted "the arduous task of normalizing relations between the two countries, and
establishing the institutional framework that had existed for decades before."
Benedetti assured that he receives the task with enthusiasm and that he will seek commercial exchange "No imaginary line will separate us as brothers again," he added on his Twitter account.
For his part, Maduro appointed Félix Plascencia a Chavista diplomat who was foreign minister in 2021 and who has been in diplomatic positions for more than 30 years.
The arrival of the first left-wing government in Colombia represents hope for dialogue between both nations that face the presence of criminal groups and poverty on their respective borders, problems that have intensified for two years.
[Gustavo Petro assumes the presidency of Colombia promising that he will work for an end to violence]
On Tuesday, the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino López, ordered to establish contact with his Colombian counterpart, Iván Velásquez Gómez, to achieve a normalization of military relations.
Pedestrians cross the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge as it reopens near the border with Colombia in Táchira, Venezuela, on Monday, August 8, 2022. Bloomberg/Getty Images
Petro and Maduro have not yet scheduled a formal meeting.
He assured that he will wait for relations to progress, which also
includes the opening of the 2,000-kilometer border (1,242 miles), partially enabled for pedestrians
.
The Colombian government wants to advance the peace talks with the ELN guerrillas, for which Venezuela is a key factor, and the migration crisis is an urgent need to reestablish relations.
