Iván Duque went to the United States to talk with Donald Trump about the crisis in Venezuela

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, went to Washington on Tuesday night where he will meet his American counterpart Wednesday, Donald Trump, to talk about the situation in Venezuela and other binational issues.

With Trump, who since coming to power in 2017 has canceled two visits to Colombia, will be at noon in the White Housesaid the Colombian presidency in a bulletin.

The dignitaries will discuss "efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela", alliances for regional security, the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking, informed the White House last week in a statement.

The United States and Colombia encourage the dictator's release from power Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, whose "illegitimate" mandate they consider to be attributable to the acute economic crisis that is going on in the former oil power, which has forced the country to leave at least 2.3 million people since 2015 , according to the UN.

The governments of Trump and Duque support the adversary from the first moment Juan Guaidó, currently recognized by half a hundred countries as interim president of Venezuela, to lead a transitional government and call new elections.

Trump does not rule out a military intervention in Venezuela, while Duque rejects this option and advocates increasing diplomatic pressure.

Colombia, which shares 2,200 kilometers of border with Venezuela, plunged into the worst crisis in modern history, has received 1.1 million migrants from that country. United States He offered his close ally in the region over $ 92 million to attend the migratory wave.

On the Colombian-Venezuelan border, tons of humanitarian aid are sent by the United States at the request of Guaidó, which Maduro refuses to let go because it considers that this is the first step of an intervention.

Trump also severely criticized the historic rise of coca leaf crops in Colombia, which, according to the UN, has reached 171,000 hectares planted in 2017. After four decades of fighting drug trafficking funded by the United States, Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine.

Duque, who took power in August 2018, acknowledged that relations between the two countries were drugged because of this exponential increase in these crops.

The official four-day visit duke It includes meetings with US congressional leaders, businessmen, and leaders of multilateral organizations.