The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Monday that on January 1, 2023, the land borders with Colombia will be fully reopened, allowing the passage of vehicles and people between the two countries.
«We will be completely opening the western border for the passage of vehicles, motorcycles, trucks, cars», said the Venezuelan president during a meeting of his Executive in Caracas, as reported by ‘El Universal’.
Maduro said that his government and that of Colombia are «preparing everything» to comply with the opening date, set for the first day of next year.
In this sense, he has assured that this milestone would be «a New Year’s gift for the people», since the borders had remained closed since 2015.
The border between Colombia and Venezuela had remained closed for seven years after Maduro blocked 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.
After Gustavo Petro’s victory in the elections, the current Colombian president 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.
