Petro and Maduro stage "a new era of cooperation" after meeting in Caracas

The Colombian president considers that "separating nations becomes a suicidal adventure"

MADRID, 2 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, received the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, at the Miraflores Palace on Tuesday, thus staging the reestablishment of relations between the two countries after the common border had been closed for seven years.

Maduro and Petro have signed a joint declaration by which Venezuela and Colombia begin "a new era of cooperation", inspired by the "historical legacy of unity and the spirit of brotherhood" that inspired both countries "the liberator father Simón Bolívar", as detailed in a statement by the Venezuelan Presidency.

"Today, November 1, 2022, on behalf of our brother peoples and in constitutional representation of Venezuela and Colombia, on the occasion of the first bilateral meeting between both leaders: They expressed their high satisfaction and satisfaction with the historic mission and the happy responsibility that gives them the providence for the resumption of binational relations," reads the joint statement signed by Maduro and Petro.

In this sense, both leaders have agreed to "advance firmly" towards the union and peace of their countries, towards the total reopening of their common border, as well as promoting security in the border area, commercial integration and cooperation in the protection of the Amazon.

They have also finalized the return of Venezuela to the Andean Community, as well as the reintegration of Caracas into the Inter-American Human Rights system, as Petro has requested his Venezuelan counterpart, reported 'El Colombiano'.

Petro has considered that "separating the nations becomes a suicidal adventure", thus confirming the closeness that Colombia will have with his country in the coming years.

"It is unnatural, antihistorical, that Colombia and Venezuela separate. It once happened at a bad time, and it should not happen because we are the same people, blood ties bind us together (...) We are mixed by history, by a root common and by blood, therefore separating nations becomes a suicidal adventure," Petro asserted during a press conference.

Maduro has described the meeting between the two leaders as a "historic mark", assuring that both countries are destined for "brotherhood and understanding".

"Without a doubt, Colombia and Venezuela, if we have anything, it is a common destiny. Governments are obliged, in the diversity of our visions, to always work for the common good," the Venezuelan president maintained during his speech at the press conference after the signing of the joint declaration.

Colombia currently hosts almost 2.5 million Venezuelan migrants, according to UN data, but Petro's arrival in power has led to an unprecedented rapprochement with Venezuela in recent years, marked by criticism from former President Iván Duque against Maduro.

This meeting marks the end of seven years in which the border has remained practically closed, after Maduro closed the passage between the two Latin American countries during the government of Juan Manuel Santos due to the alleged presence of Colombian paramilitaries in his territory. A crisis that worsened with the expulsion of hundreds of Colombians from Venezuela.

Petro told Maduro of his willingness to restore "the full exercise of Human Rights" between the two countries upon his arrival at the presidency, after the outgoing Iván Duque ended diplomatic relations in February 2019.