Colombia's Petro makes first presidential visit to Venezuela since Nicolas Maduro’s abduction

The US military abducted Venezual's president Nicolas Maduro on January 3, 2026 since then no president visited the country as reported.

Recently, Colombian President Gustavo Petro has become the first foreign leader to visit the country, since Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro's months long abduction.

Petro was greeted by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on Friday, April 24.

The pair embraced and waved before heading inside the palace while their meeting was expected to be dominated by issues of security, as the two countries share a 2,200-kilometre border.

Meanwhile, the border security set to loom large as Colombia’s leader meets interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez.

Their visit comes after a previously scheduled meeting in the Colombian border town of Cucuta was abruptly cancelled in March.

As the border region is a significant area of trade, it is also a major migration route as well as home to criminal drug smuggling and paramilitary groups.

Previous Colombian governments had accused Maduro, Venezuela’s former president, of working with those criminal groups.

Those claims, in part, formed the basis for the US criminal charges against the longtime leader, who is awaiting trial in US detention who served Venezuelan leader since 2013.

On the contrary Gustavo became Colombia’s first left-wing leader in 2022.

He became an important ally to Maduro, with the pair agreeing to increase the military presence along the border.