Colombian President Gustavo Petro receiving an official welcome on his arrival in Haiti, July 18, 2025. Photo: X/@infopresidencia.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio, started his official visit to Haiti with the aim of strengthening diplomatic relations. On Friday, July 18, he arrived in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
At the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, together with President of the Transitional Council Fritz Alphonse Jean and other senior officials of the Army and the National Police, led the formal welcome for the Colombian president.
The de facto government of Haiti highlighted that this is Petro’s second visit to the Caribbean country in less than a year (the first occurred in January 2025, in the city of Jacmel). This indicates the importance that the Colombian president gives to the strengthening of relations between the two nations.
During his stay, Petro will visit the Colombian consulate in Port-au-Prince and will officially open the Colombian Embassy in Haiti, as reported by the Colombian Presidency. “Colombia and Haiti will always join their flags together for the freedom of the human being,” the statement underlines.
The embassy opening will be attended by the diplomatic mission and members of the Colombian community in Haiti. Vilma Velásquez has been named Colombian ambassador to Haiti.
President Petro will also hold an expanded meeting with the president of the Transitional Council of Haiti, Fritz Alphonse Jean, and the members of the council in order to review progress on various projects, including cooperation in security, the fight against drug trafficking, trade, education, and agricultural development.
President Petro will also participate in the high-level conference “Colombia’s role in the Caribbean region,” to be held at the Karibe Hotel. There, he will present topics of interest on regional integration and cooperation between nations.
Historical relations
Earlier this year, during his first official trip to Haiti, Gustavo Petro called South-South cooperation one of the pillars of relations between countries in the region. He also emphasized the excellent quality of the ties between Colombia and Haiti, based on the principles of friendship, solidarity, and mutual respect.
On that occasion, the two governments ratified their commitment to the rule of law, democracy, and the promotion of human rights.
Petro called for an end to the multidimensional crisis affecting Haiti, and considered it vital to undertake cooperation, technical assistance, and humanitarian programs and projects. He also apologized to the Haitian people for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse by Colombian mercenaries in 2021.
On historical terms, Haiti played an important role in the independence process of Gran Colombia: it hosted liberator Simón Bolívar on his expedition of Los Cayos. The then-authorities of Haiti provided him with ships, rifles with bayonets, gunpowder, lead, flints for rifles, provisions, cash, and soldiers for the war.
The year 1820 marked the beginning of diplomatic relations and friendship between Haiti and Colombia. The border between the two countries is an international maritime boundary that passes through the Caribbean Sea, defined by the Liévano-Brutus treaty, signed on February 17, 1978.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
