BOGOTA: The presidents of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, will meet Tuesday in Bogota on their countries` diplomatic rift, Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said Sunday.
Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, one week after Santos`s predecessor Alvaro Uribe accused Venezuela of harboring some 1,500 leftist Colombian rebels in its territory, which Chavez strongly denied.
Santos was inaugurated Saturday, and immediately offered to talk with Chavez in hopes of mending relations.
Chavez, who sent his Foreign Minster Nicolas Maduro to Santos` swearing in ceremony, answered that he was willing to "turn the page" and work with the new president, adding that if Santos could not travel to Venezuela, he would be willing to go to Colombia.
Holguin announced the Santos-Chavez summit after meeting here with Maduro.
"We had a frank and direct dialogue, with both our countries` aim to restore relations within a framework of transparency," Holguin said.
Leftist Chavez and conservative Uribe were also at diplomatic loggerheads late last year after Colombia signed a military base agreement with the United States. Chavez called the deal destabilizing for the region and severed diplomatic ties with Bogota.
Colombia is the United States` chief ally in the region and Chavez, since he took office in 1999, has been a thorn in the side of both. He often lambasts against what he calls the US "empire."
Santos served as former defense minister under Uribe from 2006-2009 and was instrumental in Uribe`s crackdown on the FARC and other leftist guerrillas in Colombia.
He took command of a March 2008 raid on a FARC camp inside neighboring Ecuador -- an ally of Venezuela -- that also triggered a crisis with both Quito and Caracas. Ecuador, shortly after, broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota.
Twenty-five people were killed in the raid, including the FARC`s second-in-command, Raul Reyes, and documents were found allegedly showing links between the rebels and the Chavez administration.
Sunday, Holguin met with her Ecuadoran counterpart Ricardo Patino. Both agreed to meet again "in the next few weeks" to discuss joint development programs along their shared border area, as a first step to restore diplomatic relations.
In a joint statement, Patino welcomed as "a significant and important" event Colombia`s delivery to Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa -- who attended Santos`s inauguration -- of the alleged FARC documents found during the raid.
"We`ll continue working with the full commitment of the Colombian government toward restoring normal relations" with Ecuador, said Holguin.
BDST: 0937 HRS, August 09, 2010
