Colombia and Venezuela to reopen cargo trade at two major crossings

Colombia and Venezuela are expected to reopen freight transport at two major border crossings on Monday, potentially allowing billions of dollars in trade after years of cold bilateral relations and heavily strained economic ties.

The reopening – which will see goods like coal, toilet paper and fruit transported across intersections between the Colombian city of Cúcuta and the Venezuelan state of Táchira – was a key campaign promise by Colombia’s new leftist president Gustavo Petro.

Petro is set to mark the reopening in Cúcuta. It was unclear whether Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would attend.

An official timetable from the Táchira authorities said that the goods would start being transported across borders at 9 am local time.

Four trucks from the Transporte Condor company were loaded with toilet paper, plastic cups, medical supplies and textiles to cross this Monday morning (26) from Cúcuta.

The goods, weighing 120 tonnes, are valued at around $80,000, said manager Diego Bohorquez.

Reuters witnesses saw trucks loaded with what appeared to be aluminum heading for Colombia.

The border has already been opened to pedestrians, with many Venezuelans crossing to buy basic goods amid their country’s long-running economic crisis.

Previously, cargo transport was only allowed via a northern crossing.

The border has been home to dozens of irregular crossings, fuel and food smuggling, as well as drug trafficking.

Traders on both sides of the 2,219-kilometer border have been eagerly awaiting normalization since Petro’s election in June, hoping that open trade will allow them access to raw materials and new customers.

Trade between the two countries could total more than US$600 million (about R$3.2 billion) this year, the Colombian government said. It totaled $7 billion in 2008, before Venezuela’s then-President Hugo Chávez froze it to protest a Bogotá-Washington military deal.

Caracas broke ties with Bogotá in 2019 after Venezuelan opposition activists tried to send aid trucks from Colombia. The Maduro government said it was a front for a coup attempt.