The incoming Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrad, published a list of foreign dignitaries who have been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony for president-elect Miguel Lopez Obrador on December 1.
Among the invited foreign leaders, Ebrad revealed in a tweet, is Maduro:
This will mark the first time that Maduro has traveled to Mexico since he came to power in March 2013.
Mexico’s outgoing president, Enrique Peña Nieto, maintained cool relations with Maduro throughout his presidency.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Lopez Obrador was compared to Hugo Chavez in both the Mexican and international press. In response, Lopez Obrador often distanced himself from the former Venezuelan leader, and stressed that he had never even spoken to Chavez.
Ebrad made headlines in July of this year when he suggested that Mexico’s foreign police stance towards Venezuela would change under Lopez Obrador. Ebrad said that the incoming government would not work through the Organization of American States (OAS) to seek a resolution to the Venezuelan crisis, and that it would instead maintain a stance of “non intervention” in the Venezuelan crisis.
Undocumented Venezuelans in Colombia Will Be Able to Work Legally
Colombian Minister of Employment Alicia Arango announced today that Venezuelans who are currently in Colombia illegally will be able to work legally under a new initiative.
Arango explained that undocumented Venezuelans will receive a special identification number that Colombian employers will be able to use for payroll purposes, ensuring that the workers will receive all of the benefits that Colombians in the workforce receive.
The minister explained the logic behind the measure, saying:
This is about solidarity. When we needed Venezuelans, they were there for us.
Starting in the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of Colombians escaped the country’s conflict by fleeing into Venezuela. As of 2011, there were approximately 720,000 Colombians living in Venezuela.
With the intensification of the Venezuelan crisis in recent years, the migration tide has turned. Now, Venezuelans desperate to find a better life outside of the country pour into Colombia on a daily basis. According to the Red Cross, approximately one million Venezuelans migrated to Colombia between mid-2017 and July of this year.
Arango also explained that her office would continue to prioritize employment for Colombians, but that she saw the growing Venezuelan population in the country as a clear source of labour for industries that have been affected by demographic changes. She explained:
For example, whenever young people leave the countryside [for cities], [there are] fewer people harvesting coffee and other [produce]. That’s a job with which they could help us.
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