2023-07-01 14:54:00
The foreign ministers of Colombia, Álvaro Leyva Durn, and Venezuela, Yvn Gil, signed this Friday (30) a cooperation document for the search for the disappeared on their common border, where drug traffickers, guerrillas and paramilitaries have operated for decades.
The agreement “will make it possible to establish the most adequate mechanisms to carry out the search, recovery and identification of human remains in Venezuelan territory,” the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The two countries share a common border of 2,219 km, where armed groups of drug traffickers, guerrillas and paramilitaries operated during decades of conflict in Colombia, leaving thousands of victims and people missing.
The bilateral agreement for humanitarian purposes had already been announced at the end of May by the leaders of both countries in Brasilia, during a summit convened by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the same source.
The signing took place in Bogot during a meeting between the two foreign ministers to launch a commission for good neighborhood and integration between Colombia and Venezuela in order to boost their relations.
Since taking power in August, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has taken steps to resume bilateral relations broken in 2019 by his predecessor Ivn Duque (2018-2022), who did not recognize the government of Nicols Maduro, claiming that his re-election it was fraudulent.
In terms of border integration, the two countries also announced that they are working to meet the needs of their nationals with the reopening of the Colombian consulates in Caracas, Maracaibo, San Antonio del Tchira and San Cristbal. Venezuela will reopen consular services in Bogot, Medellín, Cartagena, Barranquilla and Riohacha.
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