Venezuela, Colombia agree to "progressively" reopen border

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos have agreed to "progressively" reopen their shared border, a top official reported on Tuesday.

"The two presidents agreed to progressively reopen the border ... under strict vigilance and security," Venezuela's minister of communication and information, Ernesto Villegas, said via Twitter.

For years, the border area has been rife with smugglers taking advantage of Venezuela's currency and price controls to run illegal currency exchange operations, and buy cheap basic goods and gasoline to resell in Colombia for many times more.

The troubled border has been closed on several occasions, most recently last week, as Venezuela introduced new banknotes and clamped down on illegal currency exchange operations along the border.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said cross-border foot traffic was to resume at 6 a.m. local time (10:00 GMT) Tuesday.

Padrino also said he had spoken with his Colombian counterpart "to increase the operational coordination against the mafias" operating along the border.

Venezuela decided to introduce new banknotes, starting with the largest-denomination 100-bolivar bill, to regain control over its currency.

Some 300 billion bolivars (454.5 million U.S. dollars) in 100-bolivar bills have left the country through black-market exchange operations, the government claims.

Santos and Maduro, who spoke by telephone, also agreed to have the heads of their respective central banks confer over a possible "solution to the problem."

Venezuela wants Colombia to overturn a resolution that allows the "mafias" to run bolivar-to-peso currency exchange operations that devalue the bolivar. Enditem