Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, representing his country at the inauguration of Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday, said President Hugo Chavez sent him “to bring a message of love and solidarity, of future and hope.”
Venezuela cut diplomatic ties with Colombia after in late July the Colombian ambassador to the OAS presented documents that according to Colombia prove that Venezuela is harboring guerrillas of the FARC and ELN.
Chavez since then insists there is a rift between outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and his successor Santos about foreign relations. The Venezuelan Head of State expressed on several occasions he hoped to re-establish ties with Colombia after Uribe left office.
“We want to reach out and congratulate the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and tell him that we came with the will to move forward, looking to the future,” the Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said on arrival at the Catam military airport near Bogota.
Santos and several of his ministers have also expressed the wish to improve relations with Colombia’s socialist neighbor.