Bogotá, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived in Caracas right now to satisfy along with his counterpart in Venezuela, Interim President Delcy Rodríguez.
The go to makes Petro the primary world chief to go to the South American nation since the US captured longtime strongman Nicolás Maduro in a army operation on January 3.
Petro and Rodríguez are anticipated to debate bilateral points together with vitality and safety cooperation on their greater than 1,300 mile shared border.
The Colombian president landed in Caracas on Friday afternoon along with his Overseas Minister, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, and Protection Minister, Pedro Sánchez.
The delegation from Bogotá has been assembly with Rodríguez and her Inside Minister, Diosdado Cabello, alongside Overseas Minister Yván Gil on the Palacio de Miraflores – Venezuela’s presidential palace.
Petro and Rodríguez have been scheduled to satisfy in Cúcuta, a Colombian metropolis bordering Venezuela, in March however the Venezuelan president cancelled on the final minute citing safety considerations.
Then final Friday, the Colombian chief introduced he would head to Venezuela, saying, “If Mohammed received’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain.”
The first goal of the assembly is strengthening safety cooperation, in keeping with the Petro administration.
“The goal of this assembly is for each governments to make progress on a joint plan to strengthen safety and intelligence within the border space,” wrote the Workplace of the President in a post on X right now.
The sprawling frontier is a hotbed for guerrilla exercise and is essentially managed by the Colombian Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN), a insurgent group concerned in drug trafficking and unlawful mining on each side of the border.
The ELN was recognized to have ties to the Maduro regime however the Venezuelan authorities is below strain from the U.S. to crack down on the insurgent group, which Washington considers a “terrorist group.”
Whereas the Petro administration maintains the significance of strengthening bilateral cooperation, the assembly has perturbed many within the Venezuelan exile group in Colombia.
“President Gustavo Petro’s go to to Venezuela, significantly his assembly with Delcy Rodríguez, raises severe considerations amongst Venezuelans,” Juan Carlos Viloria Doria, President of the International Alliance for Human Rights and Vice-President of Venezuelans in Barranquilla, advised Latin America Reviews.
He famous that many Venezuelans don’t think about Rodríguez to be a legit chief, describing her as “an extension of the regime led by Nicolás Maduro.”
“On this regard, such visits might be interpreted as a political endorsement or a type of worldwide legitimization of a scenario in Venezuela that also lacks ample democratic ensures,” maintained Viloria.
There has additionally been strain in Colombia for Petro to mediate the discharge of 16 Colombian residents jailed in Venezuela.
The households of these detained allege the arrests have been made “with out a court docket order or proof” and say their family members have confronted human rights violations together with torture.
Whereas there was an easing in repression following Maduro’s ouster, Venezuela stays an authoritarian state and rights teams continue to denounce abuses.
“The least that we Venezuelans anticipate is that [the meeting] be used as a possibility to demand concrete progress on human rights and democracy,” mentioned Viloria.
“Any dialogue or rapprochement should be geared toward bettering the residing situations of the Venezuelan individuals and fostering a genuinely democratic transition, not at consolidating contested energy constructions.”
Featured picture description: Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodríguez at a gathering in Caracas on April 24, 2026.
Featured picture credit score: @InfoPresidencia by way of X
