During the Report on the fight against smuggling and audit findings, President Gustavo Petro spoke out against the call made by his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, to the Colombian Military Forces for a supposed “perfect union” between both countries.

The Colombian president was emphatic in pointing out that Maduro is not authorized to issue orders to the Colombian military, and clarified that no head of state can give directives to the armed forces of another country without a legal and political framework that supports it.

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“He does not have to give orders to the military. I cannot order anything to the Venezuelan Army, nor can they give orders to the Colombian Army.”Petro stated, emphasizing that national sovereignty prevents this type of unilateral calls.

As the president explained, the only way for military coordination between nations would be through a supranational constituent process, backed by popular sovereignty, which allows for joint work between countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. As long as that does not happen, he insisted, each Military Force responds exclusively to its own State.

Petro recalled that, although Colombia and Venezuela share a common history, there is currently a factor that distorts that relationship: the presence of the National Liberation Army (ELN), which he described as the only binational armed organization, made up of Colombian and Venezuelan citizens.

President Petro also referred to his attempts to advance a peace process with the ELN and the efforts to achieve binational cooperation to contain their armed actions.

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