Caracas, February 25. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil confirmed this Saturday that on April 3 the country will resume air and sea connection with Curaçao, and on the same date maritime transit with Bonaire will also be restored, while on April 1 April, May reopening with Aruba will be effective.
“After completing the technical negotiation tables with the Kingdom of the Netherlands (to which these island territories belong), we reiterate the schedule for opening transit between the islands for this 2023,” Gil wrote on Twitter, where he posted. specified the dates of each reopening. .
The border between Venezuela and the Dutch islands in the Caribbean Sea has maintained restrictions since February 2019, after opposition leader Juan Guaidó tried to enter Venezuelan territory with collected humanitarian aid. in Brazil and Colombia and in the islands of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. .
Although the next reopening was already announced by the Chancellor on February 9, there were some differences at the negotiating table between the parties, which generated some uncertainty, which was resolved today with the confirmation of the official.
The resumption of air traffic was a complex affair, since the representatives of the Netherlands ruled out, at the time, to fully commit to the reopening, which provoked the opposition of Venezuelan officials, who decided to pressure on the Dutch authorities, threatening them with imposing a restricted area for flights between neighboring countries for three months.
With the differences resolved, it is confirmed that in just over a month, connections will begin to resume.