Flights resume between Colombia and Venezuela

Commercial flights between Colombia and Venezuela resumed Monday as relations improve between the South American neighbors following the election of Colombia's first leftist president. Guillermo Reyes, Colombian Transportation Minister, celebrated the inaugural flight for the newly created Satena was "to reestablish brotherhood between our countries.

"The first flight to connect both countries was operated by Turpial, an airline owned by a retired Venezuelan air force colonel. Satena, which is owned by Colombia's air force, ran the second flight taking off from Bogota's international airport and landing in La Guaira on Wednesday.

Venezuela broke off diplomatic ties with Colombia in 2019 .But flights between Colombia and Venezuela functioned normally until the pandemic broke out in 2020 and airports shut down across South America. In September, Colombia and Venezuela reestablished diplomatic ties, following the election of Gustavo Petro, a leftist, to Colombia's presidency.