At a time of heightened pressure from the United States on Venezuela in recent years, reaching, according to Chavismo, “an unprecedented level of threats,” President Gustavo Petro has redoubled his support for an Nicolás Maduro increasingly isolated on the international stage.
Petro's support has been expressed on a particularly sensitive front. He dismissed the existence of the"Cartel of the Suns" just as Washington doubled the reward for Maduro's capture, accusing him of leading this drug trafficking organization with proven ties to the FARC and the Sinaloa cartel, backed by testimony from former Chavista officials.
"Neither Colombia, nor the Venezuelan opposition in Venezuela, nor any self-respecting Latin American, should request or rejoice in a foreign invasion of our soil. We, the Latin Americans and the Caribbean, solve the problems of Latin Americans and the Caribbean," asserted Petro, who has warned the US government that any intervention in the neighboring country would be a mistake of colossal proportions.
The growing signs of solidarity with the regime come at a time when the relationship between the White House and the Casa de Nariño has not yet recovered from the crises that marked the first half of the year. They also coincide with Donald Trump's imminent decision on a possible decertification of Colombia in the fight against drug trafficking, whose main unfavorable factor is the slow progress of the eradication of illicit crops (a little more than 3,000 hectares, far from the 30,000 that were projected).
"I want to thank the president of Colombia (...) Petro has given an order today to reinforce a new force with 25,000 men throughout the Catatumbo region of Colombia," the Chavista said in an event broadcast on the state-run Venezuelan Television (VTV) channel.
The reaction was a response to a confusing tweet from the Colombian president in which he implied that 25,000 uniformed personnel had been moved to the border, but that in reality this is the device that Colombia has maintained in recent months, not only in Catatumbo, but along the 2,219 kilometers of common border.
According to figures released by EL TIEMPO, 4,500 Army personnel are deployed in the La Guajira and Cesar areas, 10,000 on the Norte de Santander border, and 4,500 in Arauca. The remaining personnel are distributed throughout the other areas along the border with Venezuela. There are also 2,600 personnel who make up the Rapid Deployment Forces, who are available to deploy when reinforcements are needed in that part of the country.
However, the head of state's concern about a possible US invasion is far from what his foreign minister, Rosa Villavicencio, has stated. The minister, who has expressed affinity with Chavismo in the past, stated that, after holding talks with John McNamara, head of the United States embassy in Colombia, and with the congressional delegation that visited the country two weeks ago, the government concluded that the United States has no intention of carrying out any military operations in Venezuela.
“Faced with one of the most challenging scenarios this region has faced in recent years, the Colombian government's response is riddled with contradictions, false information, and institutional disarray,” said Sandra Borda, PhD in Political Science at the University of Minnesota.
"The Venezuelan dictatorship, first under Chávez and now with Maduro, has been key to the growth of drug trafficking, facilitating drug exit routes. That's why I welcome the United States military deployment in the Caribbean and regret that the Colombian government, instead of supporting the democratic transition in Venezuela, remains complicitly silent and has even offered to send troops to defend Maduro, for whom the U.S. is offering a $50 million reward," said former Foreign Minister Marta Lucía Ramírez in a column published in this newspaper last Sunday.
For former Foreign Minister Julio Londoño Paredes, as long as Colombia doesn't get directly involved in a potential conflict, its attitude toward the regime won't cause much of an impact in Washington. However, he believes it could create a negative environment for maintaining the certification."Naturally, such an attitude could influence President Trump's decision," he said.
Ronal Rodríguez, an expert at the Venezuela Observatory at the Universidad del Rosario, believes that President Petro's stance could undermine his credibility within the Colombian Armed Forces, where there is a lack of trust in the Venezuelan authorities."The reality is that Colombian security forces—both the Armed Forces and the Police and various other security forces—see Venezuela as an enemy, a country that has supported, aided, and even turned into a space for the growth of illegal groups in Colombia, and that, from Venezuela, has orchestrated plans and attacks against leaders and security forces," he emphasized.
The oxygen the regime has received from Bogotá isn't solely due to the US military deployment. It has been in place for some time, and although the results of the July 28 elections haven't been recognized, it was evident with the signing of the memorandum establishing the creation of a binational zone on the border, which raises more questions than answers.
Juan Pablo Penagos Ramirez
Political Editorial
You may be interested
