Colombia and Venezuela reopen borders and rehearse a new step in a turbulent relationship

In 2019, when the historic conflict between the countries turned sour again, containers and concrete blocks were hastily placed on the main bridges on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

On that occasion, the Venezuelan regime tried to block at all costs the entry into the country of trucks with humanitarian aid, in part provided by the US, which opposition leader Juan Guaidó wanted to introduce into his country. Even he had had to resort to the so-called “trochas”, or illegal trails, activated and very busy when the relationship gets worse, in order to reach the neighbor.

This Monday (26), Colombia and Venezuela will take an important step towards reconciliation, as they reopen their borders. It is not yet the full restoration of relations, severed when the then Colombian leader Iván Duque decided to break with Nicolás Maduro and recognize Guaidó as interim president.

The priority for now is bilateral trade and the transit of border inhabitants, which make up 30% of the daily crossings between the two countries in peacetime.

Rebuilding ties with Caracas was one of the controversial campaign priorities of Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, who will be in the border city of Cúcuta to reopen the Simón Bolívar bridge, one of the busiest in South America.

Venezuela has not yet confirmed whether Maduro will be there, but the regime will be represented by several members of the National Assembly, including its leader, the Chavista Jorge Rodríguez.

For the resumption of the fluid political relationship, however, there are still points to clarify. Venezuela asks Petro to repatriate Venezuelan political exiles living in the neighboring country, such as opposition leaders, journalists and academics against the regime. The Colombian president has already stated that this will not happen, because it would violate freedom of expression and the right to asylum guaranteed by the Constitution.

On the other hand, Bogotá needs Caracas for the “total peace” plan – Petro’s proposal to negotiate ways out of the country’s conflicts with guerrillas, paramilitaries and other criminal groups. The idea is to start with the ELN (National Liberation Army), the last active guerrilla in the country, and dissidents from the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), which officially demobilized in 2016.

Venezuela’s role in the agreement with the FARC was essential, as it would be in the case of a negotiation with the ELN, as many of its members set up camps on the other side of the Venezuelan border. Chavismo also maintains, historically, relations with the leaders of the guerrillas.

The meeting of the two delegations will take place from 10 am (noon in Brasília) this Monday on the Simón Bolívar bridge. On the same day, five daily flights connecting Bogotá to Caracas, operated by Avianca, Latam, Ultra, Wingo and Avior, will resume operations.

“The opening will be gradual, with bridges and flights. Afterwards, the idea is to resume the flow of trucks and cars on the roads,” said Colombian Transport Minister Guillermo Francisco Reyes González.

The measure will considerably lower the cost of traveling from one country to another, since in the last three years it was necessary to make connections in neighboring countries. The air connection between Bogotá and Valencia, an important industrial hub in Venezuela, will also be re-established.

The two countries have already appointed new ambassadors from both sides. The Venezuelan Feliz Plascencia is in Bogotá and has already met with Petro, while the Colombian Armando Benedetti has been with Maduro in Caracas. The two leaders only spoke on the phone once, once the leftist won the election.

According to the Colombian government, the perspective is that bilateral trade will reach $1.2 billion by 2022 — last year, the figure was $400 million. The Venezuelan regime celebrated the reopening because products that the country has been deprived of due to sanctions can arrive through the Colombian border.

The agenda of both countries has many other topics, the most important being migration. Since the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, Colombia is the country that has received the most refugees from its neighbor – 2.5 million, according to figures from Bogotá. During the bloodiest years of the Colombian conflict, the situation was reversed. Today, more than 1 million Colombians still live in Venezuela.

The rapprochement, however, is resisted by the Colombian opposition. Center and center-right parties condemn the recognition of Maduro as a legitimate leader, as Colombia’s official position was not to accept the results of the 2017 constituent elections and the 2018 presidential election.

In New York last week, for the UN General Assembly, Petro said that the negotiation of the peace agreement with the ELN would be announced in the coming days, as well as a multilateral ceasefire.

The president hopes to reduce the number of military personnel deployed on the border, as part of the “total peace” plan is the reduction of confrontations with armed groups. Through the “trochas”, the traffic of drug traffickers and smugglers is high and contributes to the high rate of violence in the region.

Petro’s bet has already proved to be risky — in August, a delegation that preceded a visit to the Department of Norte de Santander was attacked by dissidents from the guerrillas.

The Colombia-Venezuela relationship

• Mar.99 The newly sworn-in president of Venezuela, leftist Hugo Chávez declares neutrality in relation to the conflict in Colombia, which pitted the state against guerrillas. Right-wing Andrés Pastrana suspends a bilateral meeting and begins a period of withdrawal
• May.02 Colombia grants political asylum to businessman Pedro Carmona, who had illegally occupied the post of president of Venezuela after a coup attempt against Chávez.
• jan.05 Chávez suspends commercial relations and withdraws the ambassador in Bogotá after the arrest, in Venezuelan territory, of Rodrigo Granda, leader of the FARC. The operation had been carried out by former Colombian police officers at the behest of Colombian authorities.
• Jul.06 Álvaro Uribe and Chávez resume bilateral trade stimulus projects
• Aug.07 Uribe asks for help in mediation to free kidnapped FARC civilians. The operation begins, but the Colombian has a falling out with Chávez, whom he accuses of taking unilateral decisions. The Venezuelan announces that the bilateral relationship is frozen
• mar.08 The Colombian Army carries out a daring and irregular operation on the ground in Ecuador, in which Raúl Reyes, then number 2 in the FARC, dies. With Rafael Correa, Chávez protests, expels the Colombian ambassador and sends troops to the border
• Jul.10 Venezuela breaks diplomatic relations after Uribe accused, at an OAS meeting, that Chávez was giving refuge to members of the FARC and the ELN
• Aug.10 Juan Manuel Santos decides to get closer to Chávez and promotes a meeting in Santa Marta. Asking for help to start peace talks with the FARC, Santos calls Chávez his “new best friend”
• Aug.15 Nicolás Maduro closes the border with Colombia and starts a process of deportations, on the accusation that Bogotá had been inciting protests against the regime.
• Aug.16 Santos and Maduro negotiate the reopening of the border
• Aug.17 After the irregular election of the Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, with the aim of emptying the newly elected National Assembly with an opposing majority, Santos declares it to be the “end of democracy in Venezuela”
• jan.19 Iván Duque recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president
• feb.19 Guaidó tries to command an operation to bring humanitarian aid through Colombia’s border points. Maduro blocks the passage of vehicles and accuses intervention plan led by the US and Colombia
• oct.21 Maduro asks Duque to reconsider resuming the relationship, but the Colombian says he does not recognize him as a legitimate leader
• jun.22 Gustavo Petro says he intends to reopen the border and resume the relationship with Maduro, failing to recognize Guaidó as president