Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez met in Caracas and announced a bilateral effort to combat crime along their shared border. They said the cooperation will target criminal networks involved in cocaine, illicit gold, human trafficking and the extraction and trafficking of valuable minerals.
The leaders highlighted the Catatumbo region on the Colombia–Venezuela frontier as a priority. For more than a year, rival armed groups in Catatumbo have vied for control of human and weapons trafficking, illegal mining, drug cultivation and the cocaine trade. Its location makes it a key corridor for moving narcotics out of the country.
Rodríguez said both governments will develop military plans and immediately establish mechanisms for sharing information and building joint intelligence capabilities to disrupt criminal organizations operating in border zones.
Beyond security, the two governments agreed to expand bilateral trade and to cooperate on improving electricity supply in western Venezuela, a region that has suffered repeated blackouts. They discussed electrical interconnection and gas linkages, noting the logic of using regional resources and exploring potential joint gas exports.
Relations between Bogotá and Caracas have been tense in recent years. In 2019, then-president Iván Duque severed ties with Caracas after refusing to recognize disputed Venezuelan election results, and full diplomatic relations were later restored under Petro in 2022. Petro has maintained diplomatic engagement even while questioning the legitimacy of some contested electoral outcomes in Venezuela.
A planned March meeting in the Colombian border town of Cúcuta was canceled abruptly. The two countries share roughly 2,200 kilometers (about 1,370 miles) of border with long historical and cultural ties; many families live binationally. Some 3 million Venezuelan migrants have settled in Colombia in recent years after fleeing economic collapse and instability at home.
The talks signal a willingness by both governments to address security, economic and humanitarian issues through coordinated action, though implementation will require sustained political will and operational collaboration across military, law enforcement and civilian agencies.