Venezuela, Colombia Border Areas Hopeful as Reopening Looms (Connecting the Dots: Venezuela, Colombia & Soros Funded Think Tanks)
Newsmax
Saturday, 06
August 2022 01:00 PM EDT
https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/venezuela-colombia-border-life/2022/08/06/id/1082026/
SAN JUAN DE
COLON, Venezuela (AP) — The freight company owned by Alfredo Rosales and his
brothers was hustling, its 50 or so trucks constantly on the go hauling about 1
million tons of coal, cement, flour and other goods every year in commerce
between Venezuela and Colombia.
Their work came
to an abrupt halt in 2015, when the socialist government of Venezuelan
President Nicolas Maduro shut down border crossings with its neighbor after
years of deterioriating relations with conservative Colombian administrations.
“When they closed
the border, we had nowhere to go to work. ... It seriously hurt us,” Rosales
said Thursday as he looked over the family's quiet five-acre truck depot in the
western Venezuelan community of San Juan de Colon, on a plateau with views of
lush mountains. They have only a handful of trucks now, the rest sold off, some
for scrap.
Yet optimism is
starting to creep into the border area, now that leftist Gustavo Petro is being
inaugurated as Colombia's president Sunday promising to normalize relations
with Maduro. Colombia's incoming foreign minister and his Venezuelan
counterpart announced in late July that the border will gradually reopen after
the two nations restore diplomatic ties.
“And this is what
remains, hope to start working,” Rosales said.
Despite those
hopes, business owners and residents in the region know meaningful vehicular
activity across the border will not resume overnight. Venezuela's economic woes
have only worsened in the years since border commerce was shut down and more
than 6 million people left seeking better lives mostly in Latin America and the
Caribbean, with about 1.8 million migrating to Colombia.
Colombia and
Venezuela share a border of about 1,370 miles (2,700 kilometers). Bandits, drug
traffickers, paramilitary groups and guerrillas take advantage of the remote
and desolate landscape to operate, though that did not deter trade before the
closure.
And goods have
continued to enter Venezuela, illegally over dirt roads manned by armed groups
and others with the blessing of officials on both sides of the border.
Similarly, illegal imports also enter Colombia, but on a smaller scale.
On Saturday, men
slogged loads of soft drinks, bananas, cooking oil, specialty paper, scrap
metal and other goods on carts, bicycles, motocycles and their own backs down
an illegal road turned into a muddy mess by rain.
Sanctioned trade,
however, would flow at a much higher rate.
Although the
border is long, all but two of the official border crossings between Venezuela
and Colombia are concentrated in a 45-mile (75-kilometer) stretch, which before
the shutdown handled 60% of commercial activity between the neighbors. The
country's northern-most bridge is about 330 miles away and Venezuela continued
to permit some cargo to cross there.
“The expectations
are very positive, and we have been waiting for a situation like this for so
long,” said Luis Russián, chairman of the Chamber of Venezuelan-Colombian Economic
Integration, which is projecting that the agricultural, pharmaceutical and
personal hygiene sectors will be among the first to benefit from the reopening.
“We consider it a new chapter that is going to be written between Venezuela and
Colombia.”
Russián said a
few Colombian companies have shown interest in joining the chamber as they
consider whether to try to enter the Venezuelan market. The group had about 180
members in the late 2000s but now has roughly half that.
Food, cleaning
products, auto parts, chemicals and myriad other goods used to cross between
the two nations. Commerce remained strong even in the early years of
Venezuela’s socialist governments, when the country’s oil dollars allowed
businesses to import all sorts of things. Those relationships were strained
when Venezuela’s economic slide left businesses unable to meet payments and
access lines of credit.
The commercial
exchange that in 2014 reached $2.4 billion was reduced last year to about $406
million, of which $331 million were imports from Colombia, according to the
Venezuela-based chamber. The group estimates this year’s activity could reach
$800 million if the border remains closed but could go as high as $1.2 billion
if the crossings reopen to vehicles.
The Venezuelan
government has estimated that the commercial exchange within a year of a fully
reopened border could exceed $4 billion.
“That is going to
generate employment, that is going to generate wealth, that is going to
generate possibilities to produce, to carry out commercial exchanges,” said
Jesús Faría, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly’s Permanent
Commission on Economy, Finance and Social Development.
Petro, unlike
outgoing President Ivan Duque, has expressed willingness to improve ties with
Venezuela. After Maduro's 2018 re-election, Duque, along with dozens of other
nations, stopped recognizing him as Venezuela's legitimate leader. Duque
supported the economic sanctions that the U.S. and European Union imposed on
Venezuela and repeatedly accused Maduro of protecting some Colombian rebels.
More than
relations will have to be repaired, however, before trailer trucks, tankers and
other large vehicles can resume moving between the two countries.
On the Venezuelan
side, roads leading to the border are in disrepair and the bridges haven't been
maintained. One span even shakes when pedestrians push particularly heavy loads
on dolly carts. A bridge that hadn't gotten to open before the closure is still
blocked by more than a dozen shipping containers and cement barricades.
Venezuelan
truckers lack permits that they stopped paying for when business dwindled.
Their counterparts in Colombia want safety guarantees. Venezuelan business
owners hope that somehow financing can be arranged, as banks stopped offering
loans due to the country's runaway inflation and other economic problems.
It's not only big
companies with hopes for renewed trade. The self-employed and small business
owners have hopes for the resumption of regular vehicle traffic across the
border.
Among them is Janet
Delgado, who sells clothes in Venezuela that she buys in Colombia, where she
travels on foot about twice a week.
When she goes to
buy only a few clothes, she uses a foldable grocery store cart. But like many
other merchants, if she needs to bring in a large load, she crosses the border
by one of the illegal roads, where the price to move between countries is lower
than the bribes she would have to pay to get the clothes home at an official
crossing.
“It would be
helpful if they stopped charging us,” she said, referring to the bribes. “I
bring two bags and they think one is a millionaire. (Vehicular traffic) would
be great for me and for others. I bring a few things, but others carry a lot
more.”
Connecting the Dots:
Moises Naim was
a minister of trade and industry for Venezuela,
a board member for the International Crisis
Group, is a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee, a global board member for the Open Society Foundations and a fellow at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George Soros is a board
member for the International Crisis
Group, a member of the Bretton
Woods Committee and the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
James F. Collins
is a senior associate at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and was a senior advisor for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP was the lobby firm for Colombia.
Resources:
Past Research
Donald Trump Open to
Military Solution in Venezuela (Past Research on Venezuela)
SUNDAY, AUGUST
13, 2017
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