Interview: Venezuela, Colombia face challenge of building peaceful border

Venezuela and Colombia face the challenge of building a peaceful and orderly border, said a former Venezuelan ambassador to Colombia.

"Both nations need to take the problem very seriously. They face the challenge of building a new border zone free of violence, smuggling and illegal monetary exchanges," Gustavo Marquez told Xinhua.

Tension re-emerged last week when three Venezuelan soldiers were wounded in an attack on the border by suspected Colombian paramilitaries. Venezuela responded by closing major border crossings.

Far from being an isolated event, the incident illustrates the lawless state of the border, which has reached a critical stage, said Marquez.

The border area, known for its bustling commerce, has become a haven for smugglers, who buy basic food and other items and gasoline in Venezuela at low government-controlled prices and sell them in Colombia for profits, said Marquez.

"The problems afflicting the border include the Colombian government's total lack of presence in the area and its tolerance toward paramilitary violence ... and the smuggling of food and gas," said Marquez.

In 2000, Marquez said, then Colombian President Andres Pastrana signed a decree that paved the way for the creation of a black market, by allowing currency exchange trading between Venezuela's bolivar and Colombia's peso, without reference to the U.S. dollar.

"That measure permitted the creation of an underground economy that has grown over the years. Many economists believe it surpasses 5 billion dollars a year, literally doubling the official trade figure between the two nations," he said.

The area's soaring crime at the hands of paramilitary groups is also linked to this "illegal economy," he added.

Intensive smuggling along the border, particularly in western Tachira state, has sparked shortages of basic goods and services in Venezuela, intensifying the existing political tension between the socialist government and its political opponents.

Marquez said that the significant amount of refined gasoline smuggled into Colombia every day is absorbed by Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol for export to other markets, with revenues more than doubling from 4.1 billion dollars in 2013 to 8.7 billion dollars last year.

Venezuela's official figures, meanwhile, show smuggling leads to losses of some 5 billion dollars a year.

"We"re witnessing a problem that attacks Venezuela's currency, supplies and most important revenue generator, while the Colombian government tolerates and even encourages it," said Marquez.

Caracas is partly to blame, he said, since corrupt military and government officials have been profiting from the illegal trade, and authorities have failed to put a stop to it.

Colombian and Venezuelan foreign ministers met Wednesday to work to reopen the border crossings. But Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro seems to be adamant about keeping them closed until Colombia moves to address the issues.

"We must be optimistic about the meeting and its outcome, but Colombia can't act as if it's the victim of a problem when on the contrary it has caused it due to its government policies over the last three or four decades," said Marquez.

Colombians fleeing the country's decades-long civil war have been crossing into Venezuela since at least the 1970s, while many other people were lured by better social welfare in oil-rich Venezuela.

Over 5.6 million Colombians reside legally in Venezuela, enjoying access to social programs that don't exist in Colombia, including free housing and health care. As part of the border crackdown, more than 1,100 have been deported. Endi