Apparently, the reestablishment of Colombian-Venezuelan relations will be a somewhat difficult vehicle to start, at least in its entirety. The sanctions of the United States against the government of Nicolás Maduro, which also affect companies and people in Venezuela, will be a stumbling block and put the Washington, Caracas and Bogotá triangle in trouble, especially the latter.
Both nations have shown —in their own way— an interest in resuming the broken relationship. The formal reopening of the border evidenced this, but the setback with respect to flights between the two capitals seems to be the tip of the iceberg of the depth involved in relating to Venezuela.
Colombia is not Iran, Russia or China, which act without much thought in the United States. On the contrary, it is an important ally in Latin America but it wants to incorporate its neighbor again not only in the trade balance, but also in the region.
Conviasa
The first disagreement due to these sanctions imposed by the so-called Clinton Listunder the Office of Asset Control (OFAC) arises from the impossibility of the state Conviasa making the first flight to Bogotá.
Since 2020, the airline has the sanction. At the time, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that “the illegitimate Maduro regime relies on Conviasa to move corrupt officials around the world, to galvanize support for its anti-democratic efforts.”
“So, there is the will between Venezuela and Colombia to normalize their relationship as much as possible, but there is that tension between the United States and Venezuela. If it continues like this, which is most likely, if it is very possible that maintaining the sanctions could hinder the intentions of normalizing relations, ”he told TIMEMiguel Velarde, economist and political consultant.
For Carlos Paparoni, deputy to the National Assembly in 2015 and who has investigated cases of corruption related to the Maduro government, he considers that the situation between Colombia and Venezuela goes beyond a political scenario, since he believes that for the neighboring country “it would be a mistake that these companies linked to money laundering enter the Colombian system.
“I think it is a matter of Maduro to see how he enters that system”
45 companies sanctioned
There are 45 sanctioned companies on the OFAC list, which include, in addition to Conviasa, entities such as the Central Bank of Venezuela, Banco de Venezuela, Banco Bicentenario, National Institute of Aquatic and Insular Spaces, Petróleos de Venezuela and other providers of supplies and services. .
“One concern is whether Colombia will relax the protection measures for its banks, whether it will allow officials of the regime to open accounts,” Paparoni comments. TIMErecalling that in the United States there are 32 open court cases for money laundering through PDVSA that add up to some 16,000 million dollars, so he does not believe that Conviasa’s operations towards Colombia will be solved at the moment.
For Miguel Velarde, the airlines is a sign of the care that Colombia is going to have when approaching its neighbor. “The Petro government has given the first signs that it will not risk the consequences of violating these sanctions by Venezuela.”
stress reason
And the example of Conviasa can be extended to other entities, or so the political scientist Enderson Sequera believes. “Colombian companies are going to be very careful about over-compliance with sanctions. In other words, when in doubt, they would rather lose a business than end up sanctioned. This may end up being a source of tension between the Petro administration and President Biden.”
Although there are already ambassadors designated for both capitals, the border was launched and there are plans for the future, not everything is clear about what the road to travel between Colombia and Venezuela will be like.
*The Grupo de Diarios América (GDA), to which El Nacional belongs, is a leading media network founded in 1991 that promotes democratic values, an independent press and freedom of expression in Latin America through quality journalism for our audiences.