Colombia, and Venezuela fully restore diplomatic relations, reopen their land borders 

Colombia and Venezuela on Sunday reopened a key bridge connecting the two countries by land for the first time in seven years in an effort to normalize ties between Bogota and Caracas. 

A delegation led by Colombian trade minister German Umaña and the governor of Venezuela’s Tachira state, Freddy Bernal, met in the middle to officially open the “Tienditas” bridge. 

“From today, all the border crossings are open for transport,” said Bernal. 

Costing more than $32 million to build, the Tienditas bridge was completed in 2016 but was never inaugurated because of the deteriorating ties between the two South American countries. 

Former Colombian President Ivan Duque withdrew his country’s recognition of Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president, calling him a dictator. As a result, Maduro expelled all Colombian diplomats from Venezuela in February 2019, claiming that Duque sought to topple his government. 

The two countries restored diplomatic and commercial ties in September after Colombia elected its first leftist president, Gustavo Petro. 

The resumption of commercial ties between Colombia and Venezuela officially began by enabling trucks to pass across the Simon Bolivar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges in September. Since then, more than 385 trucks have crossed the border through the bridges. 

On December 13, Maduro announced that he planned to fully open his country’s border with Colombia beginning on January 1, 2023.

“I am going to announce that we will be completely opening the border, for all of western Venezuela with Colombia, for the passage of vehicles, motorcycles, trucks as of Jan. 1,” Maduro said on state television.