Colombia and Venezuela have already exchanged their respective ambassadors and diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries are once again at the highest level, despite the fact that the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has criticized in recent hours the political turn taken by the new president Colombian, Gustavo Petro.
The arrival of Petro, the first left-wing president in the history of Colombia, has meant an unprecedented rapprochement between Caracas and Bogota, after years marked by cross political reproaches. This weekend, the new ambassadors have traveled to their respective destinations.
The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Carlos Faria, has already received the credential letters from the Colombian Armando Benedetti, “with the cemented hope of once again raising the flags of solidarity, peace and understanding.” Faria has appealed on Twitter to the “historic legacy of integration and brotherhood” that unites the two countries.
Diplomat Felix Plasencia, former Foreign Minister of Venezuela, has also arrived in Bogota. However, in his case, he has not been able to present his credentials on Monday, since both Petro and his Foreign Minister have traveled to Peru for the Andean Community summit.
With Ivan Duque as president, Colombia recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela, who in January 2019 proclaimed himself ‘president in charge’, asserting the opposition majority in the National Assembly elected in the 2015 elections — the last valid in the eyes from Bogota–.
Guaido has reproached the new Colombian ambassador in Bogota on Monday for not having spoken of “political prisoners”, of the protection that Maduro supposedly provides to Colombian guerrillas or of the “free elections” demanded by the opposition in Venezuela.
For Guaido, Maduro is a “dictator” and should be considered as such. “Calling Maduro differently is revictimizing the entire country,” he has warned on his Twitter account.
Source: Europa Press
