Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos met with Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles Wednesday to discuss tensions in Venezuela following contested presidential elections and ongoing peace talks with the FARC.
The private, one-hour meeting took place at the presidential palace in the Colombian capital Bogota.
Neither Santos nor Capriles released statements regarding the content of the meeting where Colombia’s foreign Minister, Maria Angela Holguin, reportedly was also present.
According to newspaper El Espectador, Santos heard Venezuela’s former presidential candidate, but made no commitments to Capriles’ call to insist before regional body UNASUR to do a recount of votes of elections held in Venezuela earlier this year. According to the Venezuelan opposition, the elections were won by Nicolas Maduro through electoral fraud.
Capriles told press he and Santos did discuss the Venezuelan opposition’s demand for a recount.
#Colombia Terminamos nuestra primera reunión con el Presidente Juan Manuel Santos,la siguiente será con el Congreso
— Henrique Capriles R. (@hcapriles) May 29, 2013
Following his visit to the presidential palace, Capriles spoke before Colombia’s Congress where he met with the presidents of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in which he reportedly asked the lawmakers to “not leave Venezuela alone.”
The opposition leader’s visit to Colombia infuriated the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, who on Twitter accused Santos of “planting a bomb” under the countries’ relationship.
Tanto que nuestro Comandante Eterno le dijo a Santos que evitara descarrilar el tren de las buenas relaciones, ahora Santos le pone un bomba
— Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) May 29, 2013
The Venezuelan opposition leader is on a tour through Latin America to seek support for his political movement’s call to challenge the electoral results.
