Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua on Monday expressed his government’s desire to repair relations with Colombia, but stressed that Bogota must also demonstrate its willingness to improve the situation.
Jaua is quoted by daily El Espectador as saying that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wants a “normalization” of relations, but that he hopes Colombia will “make known” its own desire to improve the situation.
This is the latest twist in a diplomatic dispute between the two South American nations. Reacting to Colombian accusations that FARC and ELN guerrillas are hiding on Venezuelan territory, Hugo Chavez accused his neighbor of following “an imperial script” dictated by the US.
Relations also appear to be improving between Colombia and Ecuador, after a Colombian “courtesy visit” to Quito appeared to go smoothly. Speaking after an hour-long meeting with incoming Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño stated that her visit to the Ecuadorean capital filled him with “immense satisfaction.”
Patiño refused to comment on the exact content of the meeting, but said that both countries would ensure a “panoramic revision” of their bilateral relations.
Colombia’s relations with Ecuador have been going through an icy patch, after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa apparently rejected an invitation to attend the inauguration of Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos.
