Colombia-Venezuela Relations: What Are the Prospects?
Colombia and Venezuela have a history of rocky relations characterized by short bursts of improvement and deterioration.
A Conversation with Juan Manuel Santos
The Dialogue’s Board of Directors met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos moments before his White House meeting with US President Barack Obama and ahead of the Board's biannual meeting. Participants discussed the wide-ranging challenges facing Colombia, the region, and inter-American relations. The conversation was closed and off-the-record.
“President Santos made it clear how much is at stake for Colombia, and the hemisphere, in the peace process underway between the government and the FARC,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Dialogue.
Santos, who had served as co-vice chair of the Dialogue’s Board, remains a member on leave.
The evening before the meeting, the Dialogue's Board joined Mexico's Ambassador to the United States Eduardo Medina Mora at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington, DC for a dinner celebrating advances in Mexico-US relations and welcoming former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo as the organization's Latin America co-chair.
Suggested Content
Santos: A Different Gamble with Chavez?
On August 7, an important chapter in Colombian-Venezuelan relations that has coincided with the presidencies of Alvaro Uribe and Hugo Chavez will come to an end. These last eight years have been a rollercoaster, with moments of great tension but also occasional pragmatism.
Colombia Looks Past Washington
While Santos is familiar with Chávez’s unpredictability and knows as well as anyone where the FARC rebels are and what they are up to, he also knows the economic stakes for Colombia.