Colombia and Venezuela, 26 years of foreign policy

By: Francisco Santos - 27/07/2024

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This Sunday may be the beginning of the return of democracy and freedom to Venezuela, but we cannot forget how we got here and what role Colombia and its presidents played in these 26 years of populist government in Venezuela.

Although the responsibility for the chaos that this country is experiencing today lies with the Venezuelans, it is worth looking at what Andrés Pastrana, Álvaro Uribe, Juan Manuel Santos, Iván Duque and Gustavo Petro did in foreign policy to confront or acknowledge the abuses of the two dictators. from the neighboring country: Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.

Let's start with Andrés Pastrana, who was involved in the first 4 years of Hugo Chávez, the coup against Chávez, Chávez's alliance with the FARC and the ELN and the beginning of democratic deterioration. The first thing to admire is that Pastrana had the guts to recognize Pedro Carmona as president of Venezuela when the military coup against Chávez, a complex decision with very little political return, since Chávez was then seen as the redeemer in the region. .

The failure of this coup led to the political, humanitarian and social catastrophe that Venezuela is experiencing today with a great impact on Latin America, which received 7 million migrants, not to mention the support for terrorist and drug trafficking organizations in the region that today it happens from there.

Of course, for Pastrana, who had Plan Colombia as a priority in foreign policy - which served the next government so much - Venezuela was a matter of relationship management, even more so when Chávez was just beginning his dictatorial whims. The recognition of Pedro Carmona and then his exile in Colombia made clear the position of Pastrana and his government regarding freedom and democracy in Venezuela and, at the same time, already showed relations in clear deterioration, especially when the support became evident. from Chávez to the Colombian guerrillas.

The arrival of Álvaro Uribe to power changed these relations to ones of much greater confrontation, although at times they were economically very profitable, when the commercial exchange reached more than 7 billion dollars with a very favorable balance for Colombia.

The complaint proven with satellite photos of FARC and ELN camps in Venezuela and the capture of senior leaders of these guerrillas in the neighboring country and their transfer by Colombian special forces, generated serious confrontations that even led to the closure of the border. and to the mobilization of military forces to the border with Colombia.

Chávez, already in full dictatorial consolidation, found in Uribe a barrier, unique indeed, in a continent that applauded that dictatorial populism, which even called that movement Castro-Chavismo, which is evident today, despite the ridicule of that left that needed to distract attention from that new antidemocratic axis.

In those 8 years, the complex relationship between our countries, led by two leaders with great internal support, did not go any further, since Uribe in Colombia won the war against the guerrillas, the paramilitaries and drug trafficking, which Santos later handed over, while Chávez It consolidated its model internally with increasingly dictatorial measures and externally with projects such as Alba or Petrocaribe.

Even in many meetings with Chávez that I attended, he called me “the good Santos”, because Juan Manuel Santos, from the newspaper El Tiempo or from the Ministry of Defense, was a very harsh contradictor, something that would not last a second. He once took office as president in 2010.

The relationship ended so badly that Uribe did not allow Chavez to land in Colombia while he was president, then he could not come to Santos' inauguration. A week after taking office, Santos would call Chávez “my new best friend.” Now I was the “bad Santos”, something that still fills me with pride today.

Juan Manuel Santos, as of August 7, 2010, supported the consolidation of the dictatorship in Venezuela during his eight years; What's more, he handed over without due process to the neighboring country an asylum-seeking citizen who was later tortured. The new best friend of Chávez, and then of Maduro, had one objective: democracy or the freedom of 30 million Venezuelans did not matter if Chávez first and Maduro later helped him obtain the Nobel Peace Prize that he won for the process with the FARC. , who did not leave the country in peace.

Uribe left a military cooperation agreement with the United States ready that would deepen the relations between the two countries in terms of security, but Santos let it die. Could it have been one of the requests of Chávez and, therefore, of Cuba, Russia and China, to give support to the peace process? I wouldn't be surprised.

Perhaps the best portrait of the change in that relationship was the one that occurred with Santos at Chávez's funeral. That image says it all. Colombia turned a blind eye to the expropriations of Colombian companies, to the tremendous violations of human rights, to the corrupt businesses of Piedad Córdoba and Álex Saab, to the growth of drug trafficking and the narcos-Farc and narcos alliance. ELN and with Venezuela as a refuge for criminals of all kinds who later operated in Colombia.

That license later served, and still serves, for the ELN to grow in Venezuela and the so-called dissidents to have refuge there. Farc leader Iván Márquez, who had given up on the peace process, recovered from his combat wounds at Venezuela's Tiuna Fort. Heritage of Saints.

Iván Duque comes to power and is presented with a great opportunity, the appointment of Juan Guaidó as president of the interim government. The visit of dozens of senators and congressmen to the border raised the profile of the crisis and Venezuela became a bipartisan issue in the United States. Faced with the brutal social and economic crisis, there is talk of R2P (Right to Protect) and with a president like Donald Trump in the United States, a humanitarian corridor could have been created that would have changed the entire scenario for Maduro and his mafia.

The Live Aid concert on the border and the dispatch of humanitarian aid were the perfect setting to achieve that great change in Venezuela, in February 2019, but it did not happen. Courage and political will were lacking and the delivery of humanitarian aid was frustrated. Duque supported Guaidó and his government, but the great opportunity had been lost. Of course, his opening with the migrant population was very well received internationally and generated a lot of empathy with Colombia, although in terms of aid little to nothing materialized. It took a much more aggressive effort in the world to achieve aid that was at the level of the migrants who arrived.

Finally, with Gustavo Petro, this foreign policy changed and he shook hands with Maduro and his Venezuela with a generosity that had no reward. The border was opened, but trade did not grow and the ELN's illegal charging for the passage of individuals and products continued. Iván Márquez was cured there and Petro gave legitimacy to his supposed group, which no longer exists. The ELN continues to grow, to the point of kidnapping the father of Colombia's most famous soccer player, taking him to Venezuela and having to bring him back, at the request of the Venezuelans, who did not want their relationship with Petro to heat up. They didn't know that this doesn't affect Petro. A kidnapping? Bah, it doesn't matter.

When it came to using the legitimacy and political favor gained with Maduro for his generosity, Petro did not act. He remained silent throughout the electoral process and it has been President Lula of Brazil who has handled this difficult moment for Venezuela and the region with great courage and diplomacy. Petro could and should have played a more active role, but his concern for Gaza far outweighed his concern for Venezuela and the effect it has on Colombia.

The sad thing about this story is that it shows the lack of a state policy on the issue of foreign relations; It is ad hoc to the coming and going of the ideological or political interests of whoever holds power. Uribe and Pastrana were guided by the interest of rescuing democracy, while Santos and Petro managed the relationship according to their personal interest. Duque neither fu nor fa, but he taught a great lesson with his support for migrants.

Venezuela, for now, is still on its way to being a failed state with a 2,000-kilometer border with Colombia. For the good of all Colombians, democracy and freedom in the region, I hope this situation begins to change on Sunday. And Colombia today without foreign policy, only with the activism of its president.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».