Venezuela, Colombia open new chapter, starting with reopening borders

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Venezuela and Colombia said Friday they will reopen their shared land border later this month, formerly the scene of conflict between armed groups.

Caracas and Bogota also announced the resumption of commercial flights after renewing diplomatic ties severed in 2019.

The countries reestablished formal ties on August 29 under the leadership of Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro and Colombia's new leftist leader Gustavo Petro.

Both assigned ambassadors to each other's countries and announced they also wanted to restore military cooperation.

Venezuela severed ties with its neighbor in 2019 after Colombia under right-wing former President Ivan Duque -- along with dozens of other countries -- rejected Maduro's legal 2018 re-election and recognized opposition US-backed leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate leader instead.

Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded.

In 2017, Avianca, which covered more than half of Caracas-Bogota flights, suspended operations to and from Venezuela.

The countries' shared 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile) land border -- the scene of clashes between armed and criminal groups --  was closed in 2019 and reopened in October last year but to pedestrians only.

On Friday, Maduro tweeted that on September 26, "we will jointly open the borders between Venezuela and Colombia. In addition, we will resume flights between Caracas-Bogota and Valencia-Bogota."

#EnVivo 📹 | Reunión con Germán Umaña Mendoza, Ministro de Comercio, Industria y Turismo de la República de Colombia. https://t.co/xqJxeDdKFA

— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) September 8, 2022

Petro shared the same information on Twitter, adding, "We confirm the government’s commitment to re-establish fraternal relations."

The countries hope to reinvigorate trade which stood at $7.2 billion in 2008.

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