Colombia’s Foreign Ministry hopes to restore ties with the United States Government while planning President Gustavo Petro’s February trip to the White House.
In a press conference, Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio said that she would seek to “reestablish a constructive and cordial dialogue on an equal footing and at the highest level” to make sure that Washington “will continue to be an important partner for Colombia.”
Both Villavicencio and Petro have been trying to provide the administration of US President Donald Trump with “verified and evidence-based information on the successful actions taken by the Colombian Government to combat the drug problem.”
We hope that dialogue on these issues will lead to a reconsideration of past punitive decisions, like the decertification of Colombia.
Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio
The foreign minister additionally told newspaper El Espectador that Colombia’s diplomats will try to convince their US counterparts to lift sanctions that were placed on Petro, the president’s family and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti.
Last but not least, Villavicencio said that the government wants to mediate in an ongoing crisis between Venezuela and the US, whose armed forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
The Petro administration seeks to prevent “undesired effects” of the crisis “for the region, including the United States.”
“It is in our interest that the internal situation of our neighboring country be one of order and prosperity,” said the foreign minister.
Trump invited his Colombian counterpart to the White House in the two presidents’ first telephone conversation.
The conversation marked a turning point in bilateral relations that had deteriorated since the US president took over a year ago.
Colombia has been one of the United States’ most loyal partners in the Americas for decades and has cooperated with US authorities intensely in its attempts to combat the international drug trade.
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