Colombia to open border with Venezuela on June 2

Contrary to what is stipulated in decree 580 of May 31, 2021, the Colombian government has just confirmed that it will reopen the border with Venezuela. What is surprising in this case is that the decision was made by the Minister of the Interior, Daniel Palacios, and not by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as happened with Brazil, Ecuador , Panama and Peru.

At least that’s what resolution 0746 of 2021, signed by the head of this portfolio, Daniel Palacios, and in which it is resolved:

“Authorize the Special Administrative Unit Migration Colombia, the gradual opening of land and river crossings of the border with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, from 00:00 on June 2, 2021, without prejudice to the continued application of the measures of biosafety established by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection ”.

The document contradicts what is ordered by the aforementioned decree, which in addition to providing for selective isolation with responsible individual distancing and safe economic reactivation, keeps all crossings between the two countries closed since midnight on June 1, 2021, until the same period of September 1, 2021.

This ordinance had as exceptions the cases of humanitarian emergency, transport of goods and goods, fortuitous event or force majeure and the departure of foreign citizens from the national territory, provided that they have the approval of Migración Colombia, the relevant district and municipal authorities.

It should be remembered that the opening of the passage over the Simón Bolívar Bridge, in Cúcuta, is a possibility that has been considered since mid-May last, when the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, a few minutes after ordering the opening. from other borders, that “In the context of a responsible economic reactivation with Minsalud and the government of North Santander, the possibility of opening of the border with Venezuela with respect for special measures from June 1”.

They have remained closed since March 17, 2020, when the national government announced the total shutdown of international revenues in the country due to the covid-19 pandemic. However, they have remained so despite the resumption of, for example, international flights initially to and from seven countries. September 21 of last year.

At the time of this announcement, the governor of Norte de Santander warned that the reopening would only take place when details were finalized “on the protocols that guarantee responsible health control, with the Dossier which includes economic, social and security actions which allow a biosecure economic reactivation of the most active border in Latin America ”.

That said, it is important to note that since then, the issue has not been discussed, at least publicly, so it is not clear what decisions to implement to maintain an economically sustainable Colombian-Venezuelan border and secure against covid- 19.

Until there has been no official statement from the Minister or Vice-President and Chancellor Marta Lucía Ramírez, who are in the Congress of the Republic reporting on the progress of the national government in defending the right to peaceful protest. Much less Governor Serrano or the Director of Migration, Juan Francisco Espinosa, came forward.

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