Venezuela and Colombia will fully open the land border from January 1, including for private transport. This was announced on Monday by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“From January 1, 2023, we will fully open the border between Colombia and Venezuela. It will be a great gift for our peoples. We will fulfill everything that we announced together with the President [of Colombia Gustavo]Petro,” Maduro wrote on his Twitter page.
The Venezuelan authorities expect that from January 1, all types of transport will be able to cross the border. The countries announced the opening of the land border on September 26, but so far only pedestrians and cargo vehicles can cross it.
The land border between the countries was closed to transport in 2015 by the decision of Caracas. In March 2020, countries completely closed border crossings due to the pandemic.
On August 7, Gustavo Petro, a representative of the leftist coalition, took office as President of Colombia. During the election campaign, he announced his intention to restore diplomatic relations with Venezuela, which were severed in February 2019 after Bogota recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president. After the election, Petro held a telephone conversation with Maduro, discussing the issue of fully opening the borders between the two states. At the end of August, the countries exchanged ambassadors.
Source: TASS
