Last Update: January 02, 2023, 11:32 AM IST
Colombia and Venezuela on Sunday opened the bridge which was completed in 2016 but has not been inaugurated due to years of political tension (Image: AP Photo)
After Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan leader, was re-elected, the Atanasio Girardot bridge was closed because the then-President of Colombia, Ivan Duque, questioned the legitimacy of the victory.
Venezuela and Colombia reopened the final stretch of their shared border on Sunday after resolving a diplomatic dispute that had kept it closed for years.
Cars honked and commuters waved flags as vehicles with license plates from the two South American countries crossed the Atanasio Girardot bridge – previously blocked by shipping containers amid high tensions.
Also known as Tienditas, the bridge was the final step needed to fully reopen the border since the countries restored diplomatic ties last year.
A ceremony, including a blessing by bishops, was held for the opening of the border crossing on Sunday, with officials from both sides dressed in white guayaberas and carrying balloons of their countries’ shared national colors – yellow, blue and red. Had happened
The neighbors share a 2,200-kilometre (1,350-mile) border, which runs through a region riddled with armed groups known for lucrative drug trafficking and smuggling routes.
Transport across the border was partially closed seven years ago and then completely blocked in 2019 after Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro refused to question the 2018 re-election of then Colombian President Ivan Duque. Later diplomatic relations were broken.
Many other countries, including the United States, did not condemn Maduro’s victory in the election as widely rigged.
After taking power last year as Colombia’s first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro immediately sought to re-establish ties with Venezuela and pushed for the reopening of the border.
On 26 September, cargo trucks were allowed through the border crossing which was open only to pedestrians.
Air connectivity has also resumed.
Restoration of ‘Brotherhood’
“We have taken important steps,” Maduro said in an interview broadcast on Venezuelan state TV on Sunday.
Silvano Serrano, governor of Colombia’s Norte de Santander department, where the bridge is located, said that “as a region, today we join the historical, cultural and social fraternity that has always marked our identity.”
The countries hope to revive trade, which stood at $7.2 billion in 2008 but has since collapsed.
The Atanasio Girardot bridge connects the Venezuelan city of Ureña to Cucuta in Colombia, and was blocked by the Venezuelan military with shipping containers placed there.
Millions of people have left Venezuela in recent years as the country suffers a deep economic crisis that has seen poverty settle with Colombia.
Venezuela is one of the guarantors of ongoing talks between the ELN guerrilla group and the Colombian government, which hopes to reach a peace agreement similar to the historic accord signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in 2016.
On Saturday, Petro announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached with the ELN and other armed groups that would last from January 1 to June 30.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)