The Venezuelan government announced on Wednesday that Colombians do not need to apply for a visa to enter the country, reported Colombian media.
A statement released by Venezuela’s Passport, Identification and Migration Services (SAIME) denied rumors of new visa regulations for Colombian tourists. It said, “It is not true that we are requesting this requirement, which is proved by all the brother Colombians who enter our territory daily.”
The statement went on to “reiterate the absolute freedom for all our brother Colombians so that they visit this sister land.”
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe made similar claims on Wednesday, saying Colombia would not be imposing visa requirements on Venezuelans because “what we do is help the international community from Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru … to come to our country.”
Reports earlier this week said that Venezuela’s migration service sent a notice to Colombian airline Avianca in which Colombia is left out of the list of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter Venezuela.
After several days of confusion on the matter, in which neither government could confirm or deny the claim, the Venezuelan government has attributed the omission to a mistake.