Colombia & Venezuela

Yes, we are a true Knowledge Bank, but this does not mean that sometimes we are not completely lost. When two neighboring countries such as Colombia and Venezuela have their destinies and economies handled by two different regional areas, things are bound to go wrong. In one of the Country Assistance Strategy sessions, there was no reference at all to the neighbor, except in the maps in the appendix, and, in the other CAS, the relations were explicitly described as insignificant. Goes to show … This reminded me of an English Merchant Bank, that symbol of global knowledge, which wanted to pull out its chaps from Buenos Aires, urgently, when their officials heard about some hostage taking in Bogotá.

That the Colombia-Venezuela nexus is so ignored is tragic to me. I believe that nowhere in the world could you ever find two countries that could benefit so much from total integration as Venezuela and Colombia. While together they could dream about greatness and actually find their path in this difficult world, separate they are lost and bewildered.