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Venezuelan president hopes to discuss border crisis with Colombian counterpart "face to face"

Xinhua, September 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday once again called on his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos to discuss the border situation "face to face".

"On Saturday I met with the foreign ministers from Argentina and Brazil and they brought me a message from President Santos stating that he was willing to meet with me. I am waiting for further information but deep inside I think that President Santos does not want to talk," Maduro told state-run Venezolana de Television while visiting Jamaica.

Maduro asked Santos not "to be afraid to dialogue" as it is the only way to come to a solution regarding the problems at their shared border.

He said that he hoped to meet Santos in the coming days even though he is skeptical that a meeting is possible.

The two countries' border crisis erupted on Aug. 19 when three Venezuelan army officers were wounded by suspected paramilitary gunmen operating in Colombia, which led to the closure of a major border crossing with Colombia in Venezuela's western state of Tachira.

Venezuela has deported nearly 1,100 Colombians, including 300 minors, since the border closure. Another 5,000 have left voluntarily.

On Thursday, Santos presented three conditions for meeting with Maduro over the border crisis.

First, he asked Maduro to open up a humanitarian corridor at the border so that 2,067 children can return to classes in Colombia. Another condition is that Venezuela allows 15 truckloads of deported Colombians' belongings to leave Venezuela. The third condition is that Venezuela does not mistreat the Colombians who are going to be deported.

"If these conditions, which are basic humanitarian conditions, are met, I will sit down with Maduro to fix the problem," said Santos.

"There was no violation of human rights. None of them were injured or killed, none of them were hit, tortured or humiliated. Everything was done within the spirit of human rights," Venezuela's Governor of the state of Tachira Jose Vielma Mora said on Aug. 28. Endi