Venezuelan National Assembly voting in favor of the creation of a committee to regularize diplomatic and commercial relations between Colombia and Venezuela. Photo courtesy of Últimas Noticias.
During the special session of Venezuela’s National Assembly (AN) called for this Thursday, October 21, the deputies approved the creation of a Mixed Committee to normalize relations with Colombia within the framework of a Draft Agreement in Response to Proposition 034 by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia, approved on October 19, 2021.
Similarly, a Parliamentary Friendship Group was approved “which must begin to take action to improve relations between the two nations from now on,” said the president of the Venezuelan parliament, Jorge Rodríguez.
The debate was held in response to a letter sent from Colombia on Tuesday by Senator Juan Diego Gómez, president of the Colombian Senate, in which he announced the proposal to create a Parliamentary Commission with Venezuela in order to normalize diplomatic and commercial relations between both countries.
Starting today, these working groups will begin talks with the Colombian Parliament.
The Parliamentary Friendship Group will be composed of:
• Didalco Bolívar (president),
• Timoteo Zambrano (first vice president),
• Asia Villegas (second vice president),
• Julio Zerpa,
• Emma Díaz,
• Grecia Colmenares,
• Héctor Zambrano,
• Juan Romero,
• Aurora Paredes, and others.
While the Mixed Commission consists of:
• Timoteo Zambrano (president),
• Julio Zerpa (vice president),
• Didalco Bolívar,
• Carlos Mogollón,
• Emma Díaz,
• Grecia Colmenares,
• Jesús Suárez,
• Juan Romero,
• Eduardo Semtei,
• Carlos Martínez,
• Aurora Paredes,
• Pedro Carreño,
• Oscar Ronderos,
• José Gregorio Correa,
• Luis Romero,
• Iris Varela.
The president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, stressed that this achievement of the AN is a consequence of the resistance that the people of Venezuela have shown to attacks from Colombia.
“Proposition 034 of the Senate of Colombia is the consequence of the failure of a policy of aggression against Venezuela, and of the resistance that the people of Venezuela have sustained,” he said.
Rodríguez assured that the hands of Parliament are extended in welcome: “we say we are ready, name the date, the place and the agenda because Venezuela is ready.”
He added that, despite the fact that the people of Venezuela have had to suffer aggression, many of those affected by the severing of diplomatic relations were Colombian businessmen and Colombians—one of the main factors that motivated the Colombian Senate’s decision.
“They have 7% unemployment, the commercial exchange oscillates between $7 billion and $11 billion in favor of Colombia,” noted Rodríguez. “Venezuela receives up to $7 billion annually.”
“It is not our intention to attribute prerogatives of Colombia to ourselves, we leave that to other parliamentarians who attached those attributions,” he said, in reference to a comment by Iván Duque in which he questioned the Senate’s authority on matters pertaining to foreign affairs. Jorge Rodríguez also invited the Venezuelan and Colombian deputies not to pay undue attention to Iván Duque’s attempts to generate divisive politics and stoke hatred.
“The intention of the Senate [of Colombia] is clear, it is not to steal power, it is to change a failed policy, and on our part it is also an exercise in common sense—we do not seek to convince anyone no matter which ideology they hold,” clarified Rodríguez. “This is an honorable exit in the midst of the disaster that the Duque administration has created.”
Regarding consular relations between the two countries, Rodríguez said: “they have tried to use the situation of Venezuelans in the Republic of Colombia, with an atrocious policy that promotes xenophobia and racism against Venezuelans living in Colombia, and meanwhile large media corporations turn a blind eye to the fact that six million Colombians live in Venezuela, and all were received by this country with open arms, and there are absolutely no government social programs that exclude them.”
“The President of the Republic already said it yesterday,” added Rodríguez. “We are referring to the powers that the National Executive has to carry out diplomatic and consular relations in Venezuela, and we understand that this is not the intention of the Senate of Colombia either.”
He assured that the National Assembly agrees with the three main points of the proposal. “It is an honorable exit for the Duque government from the disaster resulting from the management of Monómeros,” said Rodríguez. “They will remember us when that rotten pot is uncovered, the putrefaction is going to reach Asia.”
Featured image: Venezuelan National Assembly votes in favor of the creation of a committee to normalize diplomatic and commercial relations between Colombia and Venezuela. Photo courtesy of Últimas Noticias.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
