State-owned oil company PDVSA on Friday lifted a “yellow alert” from oil rigs around the country after reconciling with neighboring Colombia.
The alert was put in place two weeks ago due to fears of an attack on Venezuela by Colombia and the U.S.
Venezuelan Minister for Energy and Petroleum Rafael Ramirez announced the government’s decision, explaining that the alert “was an important decision because of the strained atmosphere due to the threats that the people [of Venezuela] were suffering.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez broke relations with Bogota on July 22 over Colombia’s allegations that Venezuela was harboring guerrillas. After severing all ties, Chavez amassed troops at the border.
Chavez reconciled with his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos at a summit in the Colombian port of Santa Marta, convened to address the diplomatic feud between the two countries
On Thursday Colombia backed down from its initial demand that an international mission inspect the cites in Venezuela where FARC guerrillas were alleged to be hiding out.
Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin announced that there would be no international verification of the allegations, and that instead a bilateral commission would be created to address security issues.