Maduro and Petro announce that the border between Venezuela and Colombia will reopen on September 26th

The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia, Nicolás Maduro and Gustavo Petro, respectively, have announced on their social networks that on September 26 the border between the two countries will be reopened.

As indicated by the Colombian president, this is a first step in which air connections and cargo transportation will be resumed. “We confirm the Government’s commitment to reestablish brotherly relations”, Petro has stated in his Twitter profile.

Maduro has informed that flights linking the cities of Caracas and Bogota will be resumed, as well as those making the Valencia-Bogota route. “Exchange and cooperation between our peoples restart on a good foot”, the Venezuelan president has valued.

This announcement puts an end to 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 its territory. A crisis that worsened with the expulsion of hundreds of Colombians from Venezuela.

Petro expressed to Maduro his willingness to reestablish “the full exercise of Human Rights” between the two countries upon his arrival to the presidency, after the outgoing Iván Duque put an end to diplomatic relations in February 2019.