Colombia appoints new ambassadors to Venezuela and Panama

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has appointed Jorge Alberto Jaller Jaramillo as the new ambassador to Venezuela. The appointment follows official approval from the Venezuelan government. Jaller, a former executive at Grupo Éxito, previously served as an advisor during De la Espriella’s presidential campaign and has expressed interest in boosting Colombian exports to Venezuela.

Additionally, the Colombian government has named Edgardo Tomás Jaramillo Carbonell as the ambassador to Panama. Jaramillo is a business administrator with experience in the tourism sector.

The diplomatic shifts occur amid a period of transition in Colombian foreign policy. While the administration has indicated that its approach to Venezuela will be coordinated through the United States, recent developments include a meeting between Donald Trump and Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodríguez in New York. Furthermore, the United States recently excluded Venezuela from its annual report of countries that have failed to combat drug trafficking, a distinction that differentiates it from Colombia.