“We had a comprehensive and very fruitful meeting,” says Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro after talks with Colombia’s Gustavo Petro in Caracas.
(AFP)
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has travelled to Venezuela and met his counterpart Nicolas Maduro, their second face-to-face after a years-long diplomatic freeze.
Petro’s journey on Saturday got here simply days after the ultimate reopening of the South American neighbours’ shared border, closed in a spat over Maduro’s disputed 2018 reelection.
Colombia’s first-ever leftist president arrived in Caracas round lunchtime, based on the nation’s ambassador in Venezuela Armando Benedetti.
He was obtained by Maduro on the presidential palace for a gathering whose objective Benedetti described as “continuing to work for a shared agenda between two sister nations.”
The two leaders held talks for about three hours.
“We had a comprehensive and very fruitful meeting,” Maduro tweeted after the assembly.
“We have a clear path of shared work that will continue to give positive results for our countries, in different areas. Long live the union between Colombia and Venezuela!” Maduro mentioned in his message, which Petro later shared on his personal Twitter account.
Petro shook fingers with Maduro and left the palace with out talking to the media.
It is the leaders’ second assembly since Petro took energy from Ivan Duque final August and the official resumption of diplomatic ties a month later.
Petro additionally visited Maduro on November 1, when he known as for Venezuela to be introduced again right into a regional commerce alliance and human rights system.
READ MORE:
Colombia, Venezuela open key bridge as diplomatic ties reestablished
Les comparto el comunicado conjunto con el Presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro. Seguimos por el camino del fortalecimiento de las relaciones colombo-venezolana, que contribuyen al desarrollo y el bienestar de nuestros pueblos. pic.twitter.com/dTPJSQBFNU
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) January 8, 2023
Thaw in ties
Venezuela severed diplomatic relations with its neighbour in 2019 after more and more strained ties with Petro’s predecessors Juan Manuel Santos and conservative Duque — who Maduro accused of orchestrating plans to assassinate him.
The closing straw got here when Duque backed Venezuelan opposition chief Juan Guaido — recognised by dozens of nations because the victor in 2018 elections claimed by Maduro.
Reestablishing ties with Venezuela was considered one of Petro’s first strikes as president.
On January 2, the international locations reopened the final stretch of their shared 2,200-kilometre border partially closed seven years in the past after which utterly blocked in 2019.
The assembly additionally comes simply days after Petro introduced a ceasefire settlement with Colombia’s final acknowledged guerrilla group, the ELN, solely to have the combatants deny any such deal existed.
Venezuela is a guarantor of ongoing negotiations between the Colombian authorities and ELN in Petro’s quest for “total peace” in a rustic that has seen a long time of civil battle.
Petro will on Monday meet one other fellow leftist chief, Chile’s Gabriel Boric, on a go to to that nation.
READ MORE:
Venezuela to utterly reopen land border with Colombia
Source: AFP
