Difficulties in Venezuela-Colombia Reintegration After Years of Hostility

Colombia and Venezuela are two historically linked nations and for centuries they even constituted the same territory, first as the Viceroyalty of New Granada during the Spanish Empire and then as Gran Colombia in the early years of the independence of the Americas from Spanish colonial rule.

However, political events in the late 20th century and so far in the 21st century, particularly the coming to power of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, have distanced the two nations to the extent that they broke diplomatic relations in 2019, despite sharing more than 2,200 kilometers of border.

This rupture, going on for a long time but exacerbated during Iván Duque’s term in office (2018-2022), is beginning to be repaired after leftist Gustavo Petro won the Colombian presidential elections in June 2022 and took office on August 7.

As one of the first steps in a long process, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that the border between the two countries will be opened on September 26, in addition to the resumption of flights between Caracas and Bogotá, as well as air routes from the Venezuelan city of Valencia to the Colombian capital.

Sputnik spoke with Colombian human rights researcher Mario Hurtado, and Argentine sociologist and journalist Marco Teruggi, who has work experience in the Venezuelan government, in order to understand the challenges and scope of this process that is trying to reestablish a long-standing relationship, albeit one that is currently very damaged.

Trade and migration, pillars of exchange
At its peak, around 2008, the trade relation between Venezuela and Colombia generated an economic flow of around $7 billion, Teruggi pointed out, so it will be central to the pending agenda to restore this particular link and compensate for the damage caused by the rupture. This dimension of exchange made it one of the most economically active zones in the entire South American region, noted Hurtado.

Regarding migration, Teruggi stated that there is a historical continuity of Colombians moving to Venezuela, and in recent times there has also been a massive rise in Venezuelans moving to Colombia. In this vein, Hurtado stated that a huge number of people (above five million according to experts) mainly displaced by the Colombian armed conflict (still ongoing due to the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army, although it has started talks with Petro) have taken refuge in Venezuela, while millions of Venezuelans have crossed into Colombia.

“Currently there are more than two million Venezuelans in Colombian territory and this also implies how to handle the social and humanitarian crisis that many of these people are experiencing,” said Hurtado.

In July 2022, Migración Colombia, the government agency in charge of migration, reported that there are almost 2.5 million Venezuelans living on Colombian soil.

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Monómeros, a special chapter
The tension between the Colombian government of former President Duque and the Venezuelan government headed by President Maduro escalated to an unprecedented level when Petro’s predecessor in the Casa de Nariño, seat of the Colombian presidency, recognized the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the “president” of Venezuela in 2019. It is in that context that the Venezuelan state-owned fertilizer company Monómeros Colombo Venezolanos, located in Colombia, became a subject of dispute, as Duque announced that he would recognize the directors appointed by Guaidó for the company.

Now that Petro is once again recognizing Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan presidency, as his official counterpart, an episode of restructuring of the plant is underway, both Teruggi and Hurtado acknowledged in their conversation with Sputnik.

“[Monómeros] plays a very important role in commercial terms, as well as in terms of food sovereignty,” said Hurtado. “I think it is one of the main strategies of the present Colombian government, and that is also reflected in the assignment of the ambassador, in this case Armando Benedetti, who had a very important role in terms of Petro’s presidential campaign.”

US military presence in Colombia
It is no secret that the United States has a close military relationship with Colombia at different levels, in terms of US military training of Colombian security agencies, the operation of US elite corps in Colombia and even the presence of US military bases, Hurtado noted.

Official information indicates that in 2009, then President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010), an ideologue close to Duque’s administration, signed an agreement with the United States to allow it to operate its military elements in seven Colombian military bases.

However, the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) estimates that there are dozens of US military bases in Colombian territory, around 40 or even 50, although it recognizes that there is no precision on this aspect because some are clandestine and others are configured in an extraordinary or irregular manner for strategic reasons.

In this context, despite Petro’s electoral triumph and his concrete exercise of public administration, the presence of personnel of the US Department of Defense in Colombia is a point of tension for the country itself and also in regard to its diplomatic and political dynamics vis-à-vis Venezuela.

“This is going to be a challenge. It is a challenge,” commented Hurtado. “We are already seeing it today in terms of some issues, such as glyphosate, the elimination of narcotic crops on a voluntary basis, the conversation around drugs and even of the decriminalization of certain drugs.”

Colombia’s strategic adherence to the US discourse
In recent years, the impact of Washington’s anti-Venezuela discourse and the adherence of Bogotá’s right-wing governments to it has been multifactorial, in addition to Colombia’s strategic compliance with the US discourse in general, such as Duque’s joining the Lima Group, which came to unite the right-wing governments of 16 Latin American countries against Maduro, Hurtado stated.

Another point of tension in the hostilities between Colombia and Venezuela arose when the Trump administration announced in 2020 that it considered President Maduro a drug trafficker fugitive from the justice system, and for his capture it offered a reward of around $15 million, Teruggi pointed out.

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Teruggi explained that this confrontation did not change substantially until the United States’ need for South American oil increased due to the energy crisis unleashed in the world as a consequence of the economic sanctions imposed against Russia since February 2022 by the US and its allies themselves. Since Russia is one of the main producers and exporters fossil fuels in the world, according to estimates of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the blocking of its fuel trade caused US President Joe Biden to approach Venezuela to take advantage of its oil.

“We will have to measure the timing of the United States, let’s consider, it has mid-term elections, its urgencies, to see what the foreign policy of the State Department and the White House towards Venezuela will be,” Teruggi added, in a scenario where the US opinion towards Caracas will probably be divided, even within the White House.

Changing the narrative of hostility
In addition to Trump’s declarations against Maduro, Venezuela’s accusations against Colombia have also increased, since on several occasions Miraflores denounced Duque’s intentions to intervene in Venezuela for coup purposes, not only to depose President Maduro but even to take him as a prisoner and send him to Washington.

In such a scenario so damaged by mutual disqualifications, Hurtado opined that it is essential particularly on Colombia’s part to turn the political narrative towards new dynamics of enunciation and recognition of the neighboring country.

According to him, Petro has made progress in transforming the scenario with a discourse of regional solidarity and calls for integration before the Andean Community.

On the social level, the tension has entrenched a strong bias in the Colombian population, which may explain Petro’s caution in his approaches to his Venezuelan counterpart, as he knows that a faster approach would have a certain political cost, said Hurtado.

“Said social damage still exists, the distrust about talking to Maduro,” he explained, in addition to the fact that many of the Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia have political positions in opposition to Miraflores.

“So we also have to be careful, in political terms, of how this new shift in foreign policy is handled and communicated, but important steps are being taken [although] we are being very cautious” so as not to continue ideologizing the relationship between two sister nations, Hurtado stated.

The historical link between two sister nations
Venezuela’s proximity to Colombia is not only geographical, but also encompasses several dimensions: cultural, economic, historical, ethnic, where a bond exists even at the most intimate level, with binational families, both Hurtado and Teruggi said.

Thus, healing the relationship requires avoiding demagogy and promoting real policies that address the complex bilateral challenges, with impacts on migration, labor, and the demand for solutions before the State, remarked Teruggi.

“There is a high expectation on both sides in social and commercial terms, and in mayors’ and governors’ offices, with the reopening of borders, because finally this border is not ideological, but economic, and what could return is a great exchange,” Teruggi explained.

The strength of the historical link is proven by the fact that the announcement of the border reopening has been celebrated on both sides of the border, Hurtado stated. He also pointed out that cross-border pedestrian traffic is already allowed.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm for returning a little bit to the normal relations that had been going on between these border areas,” he said.

“It will be a great challenge, it will take time, but I believe that the steps that have been taken are going in the right direction and we hope that this will contribute to a better future for both populations, especially those living on the border,” concluded Hurtado.

(Sputnik) by Samuel Cortés Hamdan

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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