Like many of her compatriots, Luisa Rivera, who left Venezuela seven years ago, is convinced that “Nicolás Maduro openly stole the elections [présidentielle] on July 28. And that the international community should do everything possible to help Venezuelans get rid of “dictator”. But Luisa, who works as a salesperson in Bogotá, hopes that Colombia does not break diplomatic relations with Caracas or close the border. “When it did, in 2019, I couldn’t see my mother or sister for more than four years. she says. Air connections have been suspended. To return to the country you had to go through the trailswhich is dangerous. » HE trails They are the roads through which migrants and traffickers pass, controlled by armed groups.
The controversial re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro poses a complex challenge for his Colombian neighbor Gustavo Petro. Both call themselves leftists and their two countries share a 2,219-kilometer-long border. “Colombia cannot accept the fraud committed on July 28, but neither can it cut ties with Venezuela, summarizes researcher Ronal Rodríguez, from the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá. President Gustavo Petro’s room for maneuver is limited. »
Mediation efforts undertaken jointly by Colombia, Brazil and Mexico to obtain from Venezuelan authorities to publish the minutes of the presidential polling stations or to accept new elections are stalling. Two months after the elections, it seems clear that the Maduro government has opted for force and repression.
“Diplomatic blockade”
In Colombia, the right-wing opposition would like to follow the path of Argentina and Peru, which recognized the victory of the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, and assume the cost of the rupture. “Colombia must recognize the right to freedom of the Venezuelan people subjected to a criminal dictatorship”states Senator María Fernanda Cabal, denouncing the attitude “accomplice” of President Petro.
More than a third of the 8 million Venezuelans who have emigrated since 2015 live in Colombia. Many, like Luisa, hate the Colombian president “because he is a friend of Maduro.” But, like Luisa, they judge that “The normalization of relations with Venezuela is a good thing.” The absence of consular representation has complicated the lives of immigrants for four years. Luisa was unable to renew her passport or register her son in the Venezuelan civil registry.
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