Venezuela to allow deported Colombians to return

The 2,200km-long border (1,400 miles) between the two countries is porous and there has historically been a steady flow of people both ways.

Last week, Mr Maduro and his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, met in the Ecuadorean capital Quito and agreed on a “normalisation of ties”.

In a statement to the UN General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, President David Granger focused exclusively on his country’s long-simmering territorial dispute with neighbouring Venezuela – an issue he said was actually settled 116 years ago.

The decree created a theoretical “defense” zone offshore that would, in Venezuela’s eyes, leave Guyana with no direct access to the Atlantic Ocean.

On Sunday, Maduro said the countries would restore their respective ambassadors after meeting with Granger and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York.

He described regional integration bodies like PetroCaribe, ALBA and UNASUR as powerful organizations, which have helped Latin America and the Caribbean to speak “with one voice”.

An global tribunal ruled in 1899 that mineral-rich region west of the Essequibo River belonged to Guyana, a ruling Venezuela has called unfair and refused to accept. Maduro withdrew his country’s ambassador to Guyana in July after demanding to halt oil exploration by Exxon Mobil Corp.in the disputed area, Reuters reported.

“The diplomacy of peace prevailed”, Maduro said during his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday.

“That decree constituted a reassertion of its claim to five of Guyana’s ten regions”, he declared, rejecting claims by Venezuela which he said are in defiance of global law.

He went on to address the border dispute with Colombia and Guyana, emphasizing that “today, I can say that we have really positive hopes that the situation will be resolved and we will be able to resume normal working relations with the Government of Colombia and the same applies to our sister republic of Guyana”. The company has declined to comment on the dispute.

Venezuela has agreed to let more than 1,500 Colombians return as legal residents after they were deported during an August crackdown on the border.

Based on that information, Venezuela secured a United Nations resolution calling for negotiations over the status of Essequibo, but 23 years of talks as part of a UN Good Officer process have produced no progress.