Nicolás Maduro and Gustavo Petro will face each other for the first time this Tuesday in Caracas. The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia will hold the first bilateral meeting since they reestablished relations two months ago that had been broken since 2019, when the Colombian government at that time recognized Juan Guaidó as the legitimate Venezuelan leader. Petro’s arrival in power has completely changed the approach to Venezuela, which has resulted in the opening of the border and embassies. The two leaders will share a lunch that will be the ultimate confirmation that everything has changed between the two nations.
On the table there are endless topics to discuss. Maduro, isolated from the international sphere, wanted to approach Petro cautiously, but since he asked him to be the guarantor of the peace negotiations with the ELN, his reluctance evaporated. The leaders will talk about dialogue with the guerrillas, a group with which it is not easy to reach agreements. Most Colombian presidents have tried it in the last 50 years. Initially, Petro did not want to involve Chavismo in this discussion, an approach that was not at all realistic. The ELN has a fluid relationship with some leaders of the Venezuelan government and trusts their mediation more than that of any other government.
This visit will also serve so that Petro can ask Maduro in person to sell him the Monómeros fertilizer company. The two presidents have chatted for a long time through a contact that few know, a man who maintains a good relationship with both. Monómeros was a public company with capital from both countries. President Álvaro Uribe wanted to sell the Colombian participation, which Hugo Chávez took advantage of to seize it in its entirety. The company fell into the hands of the interim government of Guaidó because its headquarters were in the city of Barranquilla. Opposition politicians mismanaged it, despite Guaidó’s attempts to bring order. Petro returned Monómeros to Maduro as a first gesture of goodwill between the two. Now he wants Maduro to sell it to him. The Colombian president considers it essential to control fertilizers to benefit the peasants and ensure that the country supplies itself with food.
Petro’s diplomatic skill will be measured by his ability to mediate between Washington and Caracas. The president has opened his hand to Maduro, since he is convinced that isolating the neighboring country is of no benefit to anyone. He is in tune with this new current that, after the failure of the project around Guaidó, considers that the best way to find a way out of the political and economic crisis in Venezuela is through negotiations with those who are now in the can. Petro aspires, like Joseph Biden, for Chavismo to return to the negotiating table with the opposition in Mexico, where it was a matter of setting a date for general elections in 2024 that have international supervision. In turn, he has already let Maduro know that he would like him to return to the inter-American human rights system, where Venezuelans dissatisfied with a judicial resolution can find international protection.
Petro attaches paramount importance to relations with Venezuela. Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva, in addition to focusing on negotiating with the ELN, has the mission of finding the perfect fit with Caracas. Maduro, suddenly, has found a hatch through which to try to refloat the ill-fated Venezuelan administration. He wants to sell gas to Colombia to finance himself, an aspect that clashes with Petro’s intention to minimize fossil fuels during his term. And he watches in surprise as the White House approaches him about oil in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These concessions, however, will not be free or eternal. The international community hopes that this very week the Chavista government will announce its return to the table in Mexico and will not continue to remain immobile.
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