Venezuela leader's first foreign trip abruptly canceled / Photo: Federico PARRA, Joaquín SARMIENTO - AFP
Venezuela leader's first foreign trip abruptly canceled
The first foreign visit of Venezuela's US-backed interim leader since taking power was abruptly canceled on Thursday, just hours before she was due to arrive in Colombia.
Delcy Rodriguez Rodriguez was due to travel to the border town of Cucuta for a summit on Friday with Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
"Everything is canceled," a Colombian foreign ministry source told AFP. An AFP reporter in Cucuta saw a stage that was erected for the event being dismantled.
It was not immediately clear why the trip had been scrapped.
One Colombian official acknowledged reports of a security threat, without specifying whether those threats came from Colombia or Venezuela.
But a provincial official appeared to scotch such suggestions, telling AFP: "There are no security alerts of any kind".
The area around Cucuta is home to numerous drug-running left-wing guerrilla groups -- which Colombia has long accused Venezuela of funding and protecting.
Rodriguez took power in January when her former boss, Nicolas Maduro, was captured by US forces and spirited to the United States to face trial.
Since then, she has faced down hardliners who have spent decades railing against the United States to embark on a series of US-backed reforms.
She has opened Venezuela's vast oil industry to foreign investment, sacked officials suspected of corruption, released scores of political prisoners, and, according to Bogota, begun pushing Colombian rebels back across the border.
The meeting was to mark a thaw in relations between the two South American neighbors.
In a sign of how abruptly the meeting was canceled, US President Donald Trump had wished Petro luck for the meeting during a call on Thursday.
Vicente Torrijos, a former Colombian presidential advisor on relations with Venezuela, said Trump had likely pressed for the meeting to "turn former adversaries into functional allies."
Colombia did not recognize the legitimacy of elections that returned Rodriguez's allies to power in 2024.
On the border, there was disappointment that the meeting would not go ahead.
"Having a dialogue and a friendship between the two countries would be very important to solve all the problems that exist here," said 63-year-old Jairo Jaimes, who transports passengers across the often-shuttered border crossing.
The meeting had been expected to focus on drug trafficking and security challenges, under pressure from Washington.
The Trump administration has pressed both sides to tackle groups operating across the border like the National Liberation Army -- better known as the ELN -- a leftist guerrilla group deeply involved in the drug trade.
Petro, himself a former guerrilla, has preferred to reach deals with armed factions under his "Total Peace" plan.
But on occasion, he has been forced to use military action to contain the groups.
In recent months, the area around Cucuta has become more violent with rival guerrilla groups launching deadly battles over trafficking routes.
Vicente Torrijos, a former Colombian presidential advisor on relations with Venezuela, said Washington had pressed for the meeting to "turn former adversaries into functional allies."
R.Morgan--CT
