Venezuela, Colombia to Reopen Land Borders, Skies

The countries reestablished formal ties on August 29 under the leadership of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Colombia's new leader, Gustavo Petro.

Both assigned ambassadors to each other's countries and announced they also wanted to restore military cooperation.

Venezuela severed ties with its neighbor in 2019 after Colombia under right-wing former president Ivan Duque -- along with dozens of other countries -- rejected Maduro's 2018 re-election and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation’s acting president, instead.

Embassies and consulates in both countries were closed, and flights between the neighbors grounded. Even the land border between the two nations remained closed between 2019 and October 2021.

On Friday, Maduro tweeted that on September 26, "we will jointly open the borders between Venezuela and Colombia. In addition, we will resume flights between Caracas-Bogota and Valencia-Bogota," France 24 reported.

Petro shared the same information on Twitter, adding, "We confirm the government’s commitment to re-establish fraternal relations."

The countries hope to reinvigorate trade which stood at $7.2 billion in 2008 but has collapsed since the