Brazilian Chancellor travels to Colombia and Venezuela to promote dialogue

Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira traveled this evening (Sep. 3) to Bogota to promote the dialogue between Colombia and Venezuela. On August 20th, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro closed the border crossings with Colombia, after a civilian and three Venezuelan army officers were wounded in an ambush. In the following days, more than a thousand Colombians were repatriated and 4,260 abandoned Venezuela.

President Rousseff undertook the initiative to send the Brazilian Chancellor to Colombia. Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman travels with Vieira, to promote dialogue with the neighboring countries. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, the mission's objective is to "offer good offices to facilitate the communication between the parties." Vieira and Timerman have met with Colombian Foreign Affairs Minister María Angela Holguín and they follow today to Caracas, capital of Venezuela.

According to Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry, Vieira delivered a letter from Rousseff to the Colombian minister, addressed to President Juan Manuel Santos. "Ministers Vieira and Timerman seek to promote and develop dialogue between the countries, due to the importance of the region's unity and the peaceful and well dealt resolution of differences," reads a statement issued by the Argentine ministry on its official website.

The Venezuelan army officers were shot while they were carrying out patrols in the border state of Táchira, in an attempt to prevent the petrol and food smuggling subsided to Colombia, where they are sold at higher prices. Maduro claimed that the attacks were at the service of "Colombian paramilitary mafias" and, in addition to the closure of border crossings, he declared constitutional state of emergency in six municipalities and sent 1,500 soldiers to the region to "restore order, peace and coexistence."  

The Colombian president expressed his willingness to "collaborate and coordinate the necessary actions in the fight against smuggling and the organized crime groups," but he announced that best way to settle the issue is through dialogue. According to Santos, "the confrontation only serves political, individual and electoral interests."

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta