The presidential candidate of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Petro, launched a new campaign proposal in the department of Norte de Santander, where he was this Thursday resuming the agenda in the public square.
In front of his followers, he spoke about the diplomatic situation with Venezuela and, therefore, promised to fully restore relations with the regime of Nicolás Maduro. “If Petro is elected president, we will restore diplomatic and consular relations with the Republic of Venezuela,” said Gustavo Petro in Cúcuta.
At the event, with which he resumed the agenda in the public square, Petro spoke about the need for the borders with Venezuela to be open, because there are hundreds of families that are affected by the situation between President Iván Duque and the regime of Nicholas Maduro.
“I do not see an alternative for Cúcuta if there is not a full reestablishment of diplomatic and consular relations between the two countries. Because it is essential to do it, it is the most appropriate path for the region due to the needs that exist, ”he said.
The candidate of the Historical Pact promised that one of his first actions, if he wins the elections, will be to reestablish relations with Venezuela: “The other State is needed, the will of two governments so that there is fluidity in the borders.” .
However, he did not mention the damage that the Nicolás Maduro regime has done to Venezuelans or the protection it provides to illegal groups that commit crimes in Colombia and immediately cross the border to avoid to the authorities.
In addition, he did not explain how he would solve the migratory crisis that exists at the moment and only launched this promise, which was applauded by the followers who accompanied him at the public event.
Since he arrived at the Casa de Nariño, President Iván Duque stated that he would not restore relations with Nicolás Maduro, considering him a dictator and, in fact, did not recognize the results of the elections two years ago in that country.
On February 17, Duke sharpened his speech against the indicated dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro, recognizing that his desire is for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to go from an investigation against the Venezuelan regime to having concrete sanctions.
The Colombian president’s statement was made at the ICC headquarters in The Hague (The Netherlands), where he held a high-level meeting with the prosecutor of that international court, Karim Khan. There, he recalled that it was he who, in his time as a senator, led a complaint against Maduro for crimes against humanity.
“I denounced Nicolás Maduro five years ago and we have seen progress in the international criminal system; as head of state, I invited other presidents to join that denunciation and we made itand it was also done by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)”, said Duque.
“Us we want that investigation to move forward and move towards sanctions because we are talking about the worst dictatorship that Latin America has seen in its recent history and I am certain that the international criminal system will make more decisions”, he pointed out.
“We hope that more forceful processes will come against the authors of these crimes, of course, starting with the head of these crimes, which has been Nicolás Maduro, and my role is to be prudent and allow justice to advance with all the guarantees and speed of the case”, stressed the Head of State at the end of his work agenda for Europe.
While Petro promised the full restoration of relations with Venezuela, the presidential candidate Federico Gutiérrez has said that he would not do it while Nicolás Maduro is in Venezuela, but it would open the borders for dialogue at the consular level.