Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez announced Tuesday that their countries had re-established ties that were broken by Chavez after former President Alvaro Uribe accused the neighboring country of harboring terrorists.
Immediately after the Saturday inauguration of Santos, the countries’ foreign ministers arranged the summit in the Colombian Caribbean port town of Santa Marta to seek a normalization of relations between the neighbors.
“The result has been very positive. We decided that both countries reestablish diplomatic relations and relaunch a road-map to analyze all aspects of the relations,” Santos told press after his meeting with Chavez.
According to the Colombian president, Chavez agreed to not tolerate the presence of Colombian guerrillas on Venezuelan territory.
“Regarding security, President Chavez has said that he will not allow the presence of illegal armed groups on his territory, which is an important step to maintain firm relations,” Santos said in the joint press conference.
Chavez cut relations with Colombia after former President Alvaro Uribe took alleged evidence of FARC presence in Venezuela to the Organization of American States.
