Colombian, Venezuelan leaders to meet on Tuesday in Caracas

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Presidents Gustavo Petro of Colombia and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela will meet for the first time on Tuesday in Caracas.

The meeting was confirmed by the Colombian government in a statement that said the country's head of state will travel to the capital of Venezuela to hold an official lunch with Maduro.

"The topics to be discussed in the meeting of the presidents will be the bilateral relationship between both countries, the reopening of borders and the reentry of Venezuela to the Inter-American Human Rights system," the statement said.

On Sept. 26, the border between the two countries was reopened to allow the commercial activity that had been suspended for years

But despite the reopening of the border between the two countries, illegal trade continues to be very common in the border crossings with Venezuela. President Petro has criticized the trade flow figures and promised to close the illegal crossings.

"We opened the bridge, we gave ourselves a fight, we ran the political cost and the economy continues to pass through the trail," said Petro a week ago.

Since Petro came to power, one of his main goals has been to reestablish diplomatic relations with Maduro after the Venezuelan president broke all ties with Colombia when former President Ivan Duque supported Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and his efforts to remove Maduro from office.

"The meeting is part of the leadership of President Gustavo Petro to boost the region's economy and socialize his agenda in favor of the interests of the Latin American bloc and the protection of the Amazon," concluded the official statement.

Petro will also ask Maduro for Venezuela to return to the Inter-American Human Rights System, from which it left a decade ago by decision of former President Hugo Chavez.

Petro said last Thursday that Venezuela's return to the rights system is necessary to strengthen democracy in the region, after Human Rights Watch asked him to use the recent reestablishment of relations to promote respect for human rights in the neighboring country.