Maduro's regime 'winks' at Colombian presidential candidates: 'we want peace and cooperation'

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed on Wednesday that regardless of who wins the presidential elections of Colombia, which will be defined on June 19 in a second round, he expects "peace and cooperation" between both countries. 

"Six million Colombians live in peace in Venezuela. Nobody bothers them. Peace and brotherhood is what we want with Colombia. Whoever wins the presidency in Colombia, we want peace and cooperation with that country and we will achieve it," said Maduro in a televised statement.

On Monday, Venezuela’s number two man, Diosdado Cabello, also said he expects relations between Venezuela and Colombia to "improve" with a new president. 

"The strength of the peoples is superior to the positions of the presidents. I hope that whoever wins there understands that the healthiest thing is that… we have good relations," he said in a press conference.

Cabello claimed that Venezuela has maintained "very good relations" with the "presidents of the oligarchy." 

"The madness began with [Andres] Pastrana. They have planned assassinations in Colombia since then, and not once, but several times. So hopefully, things will go in the direction of tranquility and peace," he continued.

On June 19, Colombians will choose between former leftist guerrilla Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernandez.

After almost all the votes were counted on Sunday, it was decided that there will be a second round in Colombia after 21,417,889 people went to the polls to vote.

Petro is in the lead, with 40.32% of the votes, while Hernandez ousted the candidate of the pro-Uribe ruling party and slipped into the second round, with 28.15% of the votes counted.

The leftist candidate led all polls for months but failed to reach more than 50%, the majority needed to become president outright.