Caracas, (EFE).- Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez announced on Friday that her country has begun exporting butane gas to Colombia via tanker trucks across the land border, a move intended to “restore” binational commerce between the two nations.
The announcement came during a meeting with a visiting delegation of Colombian ministers.
This is “the first step across the Simón Bolívar bridge for LPG tankers (butane gas) headed to Colombia… the first LPG export from Venezuela to Colombia,” Rodríguez stated during the meeting, which was also attended by members of her cabinet.
During the encounter, the leader requested the screening of a video showing several tanker trucks from the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) crossing the Simón Bolívar international bridge, the main land route connecting the Colombian city of Cúcuta with San Antonio del Táchira in Venezuela.
“President [Gustavo] Petro, we are following the path of our liberators,” celebrated Rodríguez, who had been scheduled to meet with her Colombian counterpart on Friday, but the meeting was canceled and postponed late on Thursday “for a future date”.
Rodríguez expressed hope that Venezuela would be able to export gas to Colombia via the Ricaurte gas pipeline in a few months. Colombia announced on Wednesday that the pipeline is planned for imminent repair.
A delegation led by Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio arrived in Caracas on Friday to meet with Venezuelan ministers and discuss security, energy, trade, and tourism, following the cancellation of the meeting between Petro and Rodríguez due to “force majeure” reasons.
The meeting took place at Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan government, where teams were divided into sectoral groups. The security group meeting was led by Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López and his Colombian counterpart, Pedro Sánchez Suárez, with the goal of “consolidating strategies” in this area.
The energy roundtable included Colombian Minister of Mines and Energy Edwin Palma and the president of the state oil company Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa Barragán. They met with the president of the Venezuelan state company Pequiven, Román Maniglia, and the Minister for Electric Power of the Caribbean nation, Jorge Márquez.
Other Venezuelan officials present at Miraflores included the Ministers of Tourism and National Industries and Commerce, Daniella Cabello and Luis Villegas, respectively.
The planned meeting between Rodríguez and Petro was to take place at the Atanasio Girardot International Bridge, one of the crossings connecting the Colombian department of Norte de Santander with the Venezuelan state of Táchira.
On the same day, the Venezuelan leader announced the appointment of Admiral-in-Chief Orlando Maniglia as the new ambassador to Colombia, replacing Division General Carlos Eduardo Martínez.
“I want to acknowledge the placet for Admiral-in-Chief Orlando Maniglia, who will be the new ambassador of Venezuela to the Republic of Colombia,” Rodríguez stated during the working meeting between delegations from both countries in Caracas.
Maniglia previously served as Ambassador to Germany and was Venezuela’s Minister of Defense between 2005 and 2006.EFE
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