'Sorrow and disappointment' in Colombia due to Caracas-Washington Rapprochement

Francisco “Pacho” Santos, former ambassador of Colombia to the United States, spoke out against the recent meeting that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro held with a high-level delegation sent by Washington to Caracas.

Santos did not hide his deep frustration and annoyance while criticizing US President Joe Biden for what he considers “a slap in the face” to the Iván Duque administration.

According to Santos, the fundamental and strategic alliance that Colombia has maintained with the Washington administration seems to have been rendered ineffective as a result of the meeting of US officials with Maduro.

Habrá algún tipo de protesta del gobierno colombiano con la visita de altos funcionarios del gobierno norteamericano al mafioso @NicolasMaduro ¿Se van a quedar callados con esa afrenta después de trabajar 4 años juntos en la política sobre Venezuela? @IvanDuque @mluciaramirez
— Pacho Santos (@PachoSantosC) March 7, 2022

“I never thought this would happen,” Santos wrote on Twitter. “I am not only disappointed, not only sad, but I also think that this should make us rethink many things. Because what the United States has finally showed us is that it is capable of leaving Colombia stranded at any time, for its own interest.”

Moreover, Santos asserted that, with the unprecedented rapprochement between the Biden administration and the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, it has become clear that the Colombian government is “worth zero in the eyes of—and I name them—President Biden, his security adviser Jack Sullivan and his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.”

Duque on tenterhooks
Santos manifested his disorientation regarding the US-Venezuela meeting, stating, “We have the history of a joint foreign policy blocking the Maduro government. This [the meeting at Miraflores], in the first place, leaves the Duque government, and other countries who have struggled for democracy in Venezuela, on tenterhooks.”

Santos described the presence of Biden’s special advisor on Western Hemisphere, Juan González, in the US delegation to Caracas as cheeky, and the meeting with Maduro “a slap in the face for Colombia.”

“I do not know who scored that goal” against the Duque administration, Santos lamented.

Featured image: Francisco “Pacho” Santos, former Colombian ambassador to the US, expressed his frustration at the Joe Biden administration. Photo: RedRadioVE

(RedRadioVE) by José Manuel Blanco Díaz

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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