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Colombia and Venezuela opened on January 1 the Atanasio Girardot binational bridge, also known as ‘Tienditas’, which had been closed for almost seven years. A key stage in the improvement of relations between the two nations that share a border of more than 2,200 kilometers.
On this first day of the year 2023, private vehicles began to cross the Atanasio Girardot bridge between Colombia and Venezuela for the first time in years.
The two neighboring countries completed this Sunday the reopening of the last border crossing that remained closed, after reestablishing diplomatic relations last year that were broken in 2019 due to political differences.
Delegations led by the Colombian Minister of Commerce, Germán Umaña, and the Governor of the Venezuelan state of Táchira, Freddy Bernal, met in the center of the structure for the opening ceremony.
“As of today, all border crossings are open for transportation,” Bernal said, adding that there was political will to continue improving relations between neighbors.
“On this bridge that marks history, the brotherhood of our countries is reopened,” said the Colombian Minister of Transportation at the opening ceremony, who stressed that in less than five months of the government of President Gustavo Petro, the necessary measures to guarantee a total opening of the four border crossings located in Norte de Santander.
For his part, Germán Umaña, Colombia’s Minister of Commerce, told the press at the border crossing that the measure would be positive for the economies and societies of both countries. “We will never allow it again,” said Umaña, referring to the closure of the common border.
A symbolic opening
The construction of the bridge, also known as ‘Tienditas’, which connects the cities of Ureña (Venezuela) and Cúcuta (Colombia), was completed in 2016, but it was never inaugurated due to the political crisis between the South American countries.
Its construction cost more than 32 million dollars, and it was designed to relieve congestion the other two binational bridges in the area and facilitate trade.
In 2019, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered more than a dozen cargo containers to be placed on the bridge to symbolically block it in protest of opposition attempts to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela from Colombia.
The commercial exchange between both countries is around 580 million dollars, according to official data from Colombia.
New diplomatic era between both countries
Diplomatic and commercial relations between Colombia and Venezuela were restored in September after the inauguration of President Gustavo Petro, who promised to normalize relations with Caracas.
They had been interrupted in 2019, when the Government of Iván Duque (2018-2022) recognized the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela, accusing that Maduro’s re-election had been fraudulent.
On September 26, 2022, trucks were allowed to pass through the border crossings of the Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges, after seven years of partial closure and three of total closure. They were only open to pedestrians. Air connections have also resumed.
‘Tienditas’ was the last step that remained to be reopened between the two countries along their 2,200-kilometer border after the reestablishment of relations.
“In political terms, ‘Tienditas’ is the symbol of the recovery of dialogue between the two countries,” explained Ronal Rodríguez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia.
Relations between Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro
Pedro Benítez, a political analyst and professor at the Central University of Venezuela, said the key symbol of the restoration of relations was the first face-to-face meeting between Petro and Maduro in November.
“After six years of political vacuum, there is no shortage of issues,” said the Colombian president as he boarded the military plane that would take him to Caracas.
Criticized on both sides of the border by the right-wing opposition, the summit lasted three hours. Petro and Maduro talked about consular relations, trade, migrants, security, energy and the environment.
Venezuela is also one of the guarantors of the negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN guerrilla, which seeks to emulate the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the FARC.
Gustavo Petro announced on Saturday a ceasefire agreement with these rebels from January 1 to June 30, 2023, “extendable depending on the progress” of the talks.
With AP, EFE and AFP
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