The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, considered the call he had with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, a diplomatic breakthrough, according to statements this Thursday (8).
The two leaders had a conversation the day before, during which they agreed on a meeting at the White House with no date set yet. Trump said after the contact that it was a “great honor” to speak with the Colombian, with whom he had experienced months of verbal tension.
Also this Thursday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Rosa Villavicencio, confirmed the invitation made to the interim dictator of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to visit the country, and the offer from the government of President Gustavo Petro to mediate the crisis in the country, especially after the arrest of Nicolás Maduro by the USA.
“The president spoke with the new president of our neighboring country, Venezuela, to invite her to come to the country, as it is also necessary to reestablish this dialogue based on the common interests that we have as countries, as sister nations,” said the minister at a press conference in Bogotá.
According to Villavicencio, Rodríguez “has not yet responded” to Petro’s invitation, nor has he confirmed whether this initiative implies Colombia’s recognition of the representative of the Chavista regime, a decision that is up to the Colombian leader.
“The invitation was made, as was the invitation made to President Trump to visit Colombia, to get to know us and establish a much more face-to-face and direct dialogue”, she stated at the press conference called to discuss the preparations for the meeting that Petro will have with the American president at the White House.
Petro said on Wednesday night that he spoke with Venezuela’s interim dictator two days ago, when he invited her to Colombia and proposed a tripartite dialogue with the US to “stabilize” Venezuelan society and avoid an outbreak of violence after Washington’s military intervention and Maduro’s capture.
The previous day, before the phone call with Mr. Trump, the leftist leader said in a rare interview with The New York Times that he feared that the head of the White House would try to justify a military operation in Colombia by associating him with Maduro or labeling him as a drug trafficker.
