Maduro says he is ready to resume ties

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he is willing to re-establish consular relations with neighbouring Colombia, amid a standoff between the two countries over a fugitive former Colombian senator who was captured in Venezuela.

Mr Maduro, a socialist, last year suspended relations and gave Colombian diplomatic and consular staff 24 hours to depart in response to conservative President Ivan Duque’s government’s help to the Venezuelan opposition’s efforts to bring humanitarian aid into the crisis-stricken country.

Colombia, like most Western democracies, recognises Juan Guaido, chief of Venezuela’s opposition-held National Assembly, as the country’s rightful leader.

Colombia’s Justice Ministry earlier this week said it would approach Mr Guaido to request the extradition of Aida Merlano, who was imprisoned last year for vote buying but fled by climbing out her dentist’s office. She was captured in Venezuela on Monday.

“It is a bad joke. Do you think Juan Guaido directs Venezuelan police?” Mr Maduro said during a state television broadcast.

Nevertheless, he proposed the restart of consular relations between the two countries.

“We are neighbours ... we are obligated to have diplomatic and political relations,” he said.

Mr Maduro calls Mr Guaido a US puppet seeking to oust him in a coup and frequently accuses Mr Duque of aiming to destabilise his government. On Wednesday he added that Merlano, in Venezuelan custody, was “saying everything about the Colombian political class”.

Mr Duque earlier said Venezuela should deport Merlano through Interpol. He said Mr Maduro had allowed many other countries that recognise Mr Guaido to maintain a diplomatic presence in the country.