"Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us," said new Colombian Ambassador Armando Benedetti after arriving in Caracas.
Colombia's new ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti, arrives in Caracas as the two sides resume diplomatic ties on August 28, 2022.
(Twitter/@infopresidencia / Twitter)
Venezuela and Colombia have restored full diplomatic relations after a three-year break as a new leftist government in Bogota takes shape.
A new Colombian ambassador, Armando Benedetti, arrived in Caracas and said on Sunday on Twitter, "Relations with Venezuela should never have been severed. We are brothers and an imaginary line cannot separate us."
He was welcomed by Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Rander Pena Ramirez.
Colombia's new leftist President, Gustavo Petro, and Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced on August 11 that they planned to restore diplomatic relations that were severed in 2019.
That rupture was the culmination of years of tension between leftist Venezuela and Colombia under successive conservative presidents starting with Alvaro Uribe. Petro is Colombia's first leftist president.
The last president in Colombia, Ivan Duque, did not recognise Maduro as president, but rather opposition leader Juan Guaido. The US also recognises Guaido as Venezuela's "interim president".
READ MORE:Colombia announces border with Venezuela to 'open soon'
Source: AFP
Moscow and Pyongyang to expand bilateral relations, Russian President Putin tells North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un in a letter, says North Korean state media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, April 25, 2019.
(Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the two countries will "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts," Pyongyang's state media has reported.
In a letter to Kim for North Korea's liberation day, Putin said that closer ties would be in both countries' interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the Northeastern Asian region, North Korea's KCNA news agency said.
Colombia was one of around 60 countries to reject Venezuela’s 2018 presidential election, which was boycotted by the opposition.
[File] Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.
(Reuters)
Venezuela and Colombia will reestablish diplomatic relations at an ambassadorial level when leftist president-elect Gustavo Petro takes office in Bogota on August 7, representatives of the South American neighbors said.
Relations between the two countries were broken in 2019 after Colombian President Ivan Duque refused to recognise the reelection of his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.
Duque instead backed the claim of opposition leader Juan Guaido to be Venezuela's acting president.
Colombia was one of around 60 countries to do so, having rejected Venezuela's 2018 presidential election that was boycotted by the opposition.
Venezuela's minister of foreign relations Carlos Faria hosted Colombia's foreign minister-elect Alvaro Leyva in San Cristobal on Thursday, the capital of Tachira state on the border between the two countries.
Leyva read out a statement saying that both men had "expressed their desire to progress on a work agenda towards the gradual normalisation of bilateral relations from August 7 by naming ambassadors and diplomatic and consular officials."
Frayed relations
Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first ever elected left-wing president, had said on the campaign trail that he would reestablish diplomatic relations with Venezuela once in office.
Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.
Even the land border between the two countries was closed between 2019 and October 2021.
Maduro regularly accuses Duque of being part of supposed plans to topple him, while the conservative president claims his Venezuelan counterpart is harboring Colombian rebels that carry out attacks on his security forces.
On Thursday, Colombia's police force claimed a former guerrilla hiding in Venezuela had offered more than $1.5 million as a reward for the assassination of Duque.
![[File] Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.](https://cdni0.trtworld.com/w960/h540/q75/136765_ReutersAugust72010ColombiaVenezuela_1659052786353.jpeg)