Bogota, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrived in Caracas today to meet Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
With the visit, Petro becomes the first world leader to visit the South American country since the United States arrested longtime dictator Nicolas Maduro in a military operation on January 3.
Petro and Rodriguez are expected to discuss bilateral issues, including energy and security cooperation, along their shared border of more than 1,300 miles.
The Colombian president arrived in Caracas on Friday afternoon, accompanied by Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio and Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The Bogota delegation met with Rodriguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and Foreign Minister Ivan Gil at the Miraflores Palace, the Venezuelan presidential palace.
Petro and Rodriguez were scheduled to meet in Cucuta, a Colombian city bordering Venezuela, in March, but the Venezuelan president canceled the meeting at the last minute, citing security concerns.
Then, last Friday, the Colombian leader announced that he would head to Venezuela, saying, “If Muhammad does not come to me, I will go to the mountains.”
According to the Petro administration, the main objective of the meeting is to strengthen security cooperation.
“The purpose of this meeting is for the two governments to advance joint plans to strengthen security and intelligence in the border region,” the President’s Office said in a post to X today.
The sprawling border area is a hotbed of guerrilla activity and is largely controlled by the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN), a rebel group involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining on both sides of the border.
The ELN is known to be linked to the Maduro regime, but the Venezuelan government is under pressure from the United States to crack down on the rebels, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.
Although the Petro administration maintains the importance of strengthening cooperation between the two countries, the meeting has left many in the Venezuelan exile community in Colombia distraught.
“President Gustavo Petro’s visit to Venezuela, and especially his meeting with Delcy Rodriguez, has raised serious concerns among Venezuelans,” said Juan Carlos Viloria Doria, President of the Global Alliance for Human Rights and Venezuelan Vice President in Barranquilla. Latin America Report.
He noted that many Venezuelans do not consider Rodriguez a legitimate leader, describing her as “an extension of the regime led by Nicolas Maduro.”
“In this regard, such a visit could be interpreted as a form of political support or international legitimization of the situation in Venezuela, which still lacks adequate democratic guarantees,” Viloria said.
In Colombia, there has been pressure on Petro to mediate the release of 16 Colombian citizens imprisoned in Venezuela.
Families of those detained say they were arrested without court orders or evidence and say their loved ones have faced human rights violations, including torture.
Although repression has eased since Maduro’s ouster, Venezuela remains an authoritarian state and human rights groups continue to condemn the repression.
“The least we Venezuelans can hope for is that (the meeting) be used as an opportunity to demand concrete progress on human rights and democracy,” Viloria said.
“Any dialogue or reconciliation must aim to improve the living conditions of the Venezuelan people and promote a truly democratic transition, not the consolidation of controversial power structures.”
Featured image caption: Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez attend a meeting in Caracas on April 24, 2026.
Featured image credit: @InfoPresidencia via X
