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By Astrid Su谩rez

The Associated Press

BUCARAMANGA, Colombia 鈥� Colombia and Venezuela on Sunday opened between them a key transportation link: a bridge that had sat closed for almost seven years amid political tension.

Delegations led by Colombian trade minister Germ谩n Uma帽a and the governor of Venezuela鈥檚 Tachira state, Freddy Bernal, met in the middle of the 鈥淭ienditas鈥� bridge linking Tachira and Colombia鈥檚 Norte de Santander state for the opening ceremony.

鈥淔rom today, all the border crossings are open for transport,鈥� said Bernal, adding that the political will existed to continue improving relations between the neighbors.

Construction of the bridge ended in 2016, but it was never inaugurated because of the political crisis between the South American countries. The bridge, which cost more than $32 million to build, was designed to ease congestion on the two other binational bridges in the area and facilitate trade.

In 2019, Venezuela鈥檚 socialist President Nicol谩s Maduro ordered more than a dozen cargo containers placed on the bridge to symbolically block it to protest attempts by the opposition to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela from Colombia.

Diplomatic and commercial relations between Colombia and Venezuela were reestablished in September following the inauguration of Gustavo Petro 鈥� a former guerrilla 鈥� as Colombia鈥檚 president.

Petro鈥檚 predecessor, Iv谩n Duque, had called Maduro a 鈥渄ictator鈥� and made Colombia one of 50 countries that recognized opposition leader Juan Guaid贸 as Venezuela鈥檚 interim president, charging that Maduro鈥檚 re-election had been fraudulent.

鈥淭ienditas鈥� was the last remaining crossing linking the countries to be reopened along their 1,367-mile border following the restoration of relations.

鈥淚n political terms, 鈥楾ienditas鈥� is the symbol of the recovery of dialogue between the two countries,鈥� said Ronal Rodr铆guez, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory in Colombia鈥檚 Universidad del Rosario.

Pedro Ben铆tez, a political analyst and professor at the Central University of Venezuela, told The Associated Press the key symbol of the restoration of relations was the first face-to-face meeting between Petro and Maduro in November.

Benitez said the reestablishment of trade relations between the neighbors so far has been 鈥渧ery bumpy鈥� because incoming Colombian products have been very expensive due to 鈥渘on-institutional obstacles attributed to Venezuelan officials.鈥�

The resumption of commercial ties began with enabling traffic across the Sim贸n Bol铆var and Francisco de Paula Santander bridges in September. From then until November, 385 trucks passed over the bridges, most from Colombia into Venezuela carrying products such as medical supplies, fiber optics, textiles, toilet paper and cardboard. Coiled steel, motors and pipes were transported from Venezuela into Colombia.

Between January and October 2022, total trade between the two countries reached $512 million 鈥� an increase from $394 million in all of 2021, but still far from the $7 billion in bilateral trade seen in 2008.