As regional leaders descended on Bogotá for the elaborate inauguration on August 7th of Colombia’s first left-wing president, one man was notable by his absence. The outgoing conservative president, Iván Duque, used his last dregs of power to make sure of that. He barred Nicolás Maduro, the dictator next door in Venezuela, from stepping on Colombian soil until the very moment Gustavo Petro was sworn in. So Mr Maduro stayed home and played television presenter, standing by a large screen in his palace and commenting on events in Bogotá as they unfolded. Missing the ceremony has not dampened Mr Maduro’s enthusiasm for the political change sweeping Colombia, America’s staunchest ally in the region. Like many tyrants, Mr Maduro hails democracy when it works to his liking. “New times are coming,” he tweeted shortly after the victory of Mr Petro, a guerrilla-turned-senator, in June. The leftist Mr Petro has promised a thaw in his country’s frosty relations with Venezuela. To start, he says he will restore diplomatic relations, severed since 2019.
Venezuela’s dictator is less isolated than he once was
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Dec
Idler on a hammock 