Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, Vladímir Padrino, announced Friday that the country is ready to increase border military cooperation with Colombia in order to jointly confront the fight against drug trafficking.
«We are ready to raise the level of communication and cooperation with the Colombian Military and Police Forces to face transnational crimes generated by drug trafficking, armed groups and smuggling, among others. For a border of peace, alive and prosperous!» he has indicated in his official Twitter profile.
These statements come after the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, received on Tuesday at the Miraflores Palace the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, thus staging the reestablishment of relations between the two countries after the common border had been closed for seven years.
Both presidents agreed to «advance firmly» towards the union and peace of their countries, towards the total reopening of their common border, as well as to promote security in the border area, commercial integration and cooperation in the protection of the Amazon.
They also agreed on the return of Venezuela to the Andean Community, as well as the reintegration of Caracas in the Inter-American Human Rights system, as Petro requested to his Venezuelan counterpart. Maduro described the meeting as «historic», assuring that both countries are destined to «brotherhood and understanding».
This meeting put an end to seven years in which the border 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 his territory, a crisis that worsened with the expulsion of hundreds of Colombians from Venezuela.
