JAKARTA - President Joe Biden told Colombian President Ivan Duque on Thursday plans to designate Colombia as a key non-NATO ally give strategic status to a key nation in a region volatile as the United States seeks to isolate Russia.
In talks at the White House, President Biden and President Duque said they would work to sign a regional migration agreement at the June Americas Summit in Los Angeles.
It is known that Colombia is currently home to about 1.9 million migrants from neighboring Venezuela.
Major non-NATO ally status is the designation given by the United States to a close ally, which has a strategic working relationship with Washington but is not a member of NATO. Argentina gained this status in 1998 and Brazil in 2019.
"Colombia is the key in the Southern Hemisphere," President Biden told President Duque. The two countries have had diplomatic relations for 200 years.
The two leaders did not provide details on the expected form of the framework on migration. The United States has struggled to cope with the thousands of migrants seeking asylum on its southern border with Mexico.
Their meeting came days after secret negotiations between senior US officials and representatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to arrange for the release of two American prisoners. The move has raised eyebrows in Colombia, which has strained relations with Venezuela.
There was no sign of tension in their public statement. Both presidents condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with President Duque saying Colombia offered assistance to countries in the region in dealing with the "bloodbath" displaced mass of people in Ukraine.
Asked about contacts between the United States and Maduro's representatives after the meeting, President Duque told reporters, "I'm not going to start questioning" US policy.
"We will maintain our same foreign policy, condemn the dictatorship, call Nicolas Maduro for what he is, a criminal who has committed crimes against humanity, and we will continue to support our Venezuelan brothers in Colombia with brotherhood," Duque said.
In a joint statement following the meeting, the two leaders underlined their shared commitment to "support the restoration of democracy" in Venezuela.
The US delegation's weekend visit to Venezuela and talks with President Maduro, focused on the fate of detained Americans and the possible easing of US oil sanctions on OPEC member Venezuela, to fill a supply gap if President Biden bans imports of Russian oil, something he did on Tuesday.
Venezuela is Russia's closest ally in South America, and the United States is gauging whether it will distance itself from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Maduro's government in Venezuela has caused a humanitarian crisis that has impacted Colombia.
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President Duque's visit comes ahead of the legislative and presidential primaries in Colombia on Sunday, where several left-leaning candidates have proposed changes to the cornerstone of US-Colombia relations, the fight against drug trafficking.
President Duque, who will leave office in August, has come under continued pressure from the Trump administration to reduce cultivation of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine. Colombia has long been a major producer of the drug, despite billions of US funds meant to combat it.
In their joint statement, President Biden and President Duque agreed to work on a more holistic approach to counternarcotics, including better access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services, as well as new efforts to block money laundering and increase prohibition.
To note, during the meeting, Biden also pledged to donate an additional two million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to Colombia.
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