SEMANA, December 29, 2022
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
One more step forward in the relationship between the United States and Colombia happened very recently with the meetings of Colombia’s Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva with the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols and a member of the White House National Security Council, Juan González.
Leyva met with the United States officials in Washington, where they discussed key issues in the relationship between the two countries, such as migration, drug trafficking, agricultural reform, Colombia’s land fund, and other related matters such as youth and poverty.
According to Foreign Minister Leyva, the meetings made it possible to do some review of those issues at the end of the year. “Colombia’s relations with the United States are going through an excellent moment. Obviously, we made observations on different areas. There is a vision that’s in contrast with previous administrations,” he said.
TWEET:
Colombia Foreign Office
@CancilleríaCol
Colombia Governmental Organization
Minister @ÁlvaroLeyva and Ambassador @LuisGMurillo met with
Brian Nichols, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs, and with Juan González of the White House
National Security Council.
Leyva stated that “President (Gustavo) Petro has his own leadership in matters like Latin America on the whole,” he said, and in this framework, “we touch on some countries and we review the bilateral relationship,” in matters like “migration, drug trafficking agricultural reform, the land fund, youth, poverty.”
“I think that there are some tones in the differences, or tones of comparison, you might say, the work is marvelous, let me characterize it that way. And I think that we are headed toward a very good 2023,” he said after his meetings with the officials.
Migration, a major issue at the meetings
Doubtless one of the key issues at the meetings that Colombia’s Foreign Minister attended in Washington was that of migration. It has a direct impact in different locations of the national territory.
On the one hand is the flood of Venezuelans who have left their country, fleeing the regime of Nicolás Maduro. On the other hand, there are the people who come to Colombia from different countries and for whom Colombia is an obligatory step in their intention to reach the United States via the Central America route.
On the subject of migration, Colombia’s Foreign Minister stated that, “There is going to be a Latin American Conference on Migration, and obviously, the United States will participate.” The United States, as he said, “is the destination of all of this migration.”
Leyva said that Colombia “is going through some very difficult episodes” with this problem, and he said that, “it’s something that we now have to look at from an international point of view. It’s the continent’s problem, and we are going to have to resolve it together.”
Colombia’s Ambassador to the United States, Luis Gilberto Murillo, referred to some humanitarian relief that’s being discussed. So that Colombians can remain in the United States.
According to Ambassador Murillo, “what we suggested is that we continue reviewing with the technical teams so that we can unify our perspectives. Now we have different perspectives, but we are going to work toward being able to make progress in each of those areas, but there’s an opening, it’s a good time to be discussing it.”
“The intention of the visit is to make the necessary assessments at the end of the year on all of those topics, because there have been a lot of announcements, a lot of gatherings on subjects where we have to work together. The Latin American Conference on Drug Trafficking which we’ve already mentioned, migration, and others are also in the mix and we are going to work on them so that they can take place in the first quarter of the coming year,” concluded the Foreign Minister.