VENEZUELA and Colombia agreed yesterday to fight crime along their common border.

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin hosted her Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena.

Although the ministers did not immediately reach agreement on reopening two major border crossings that have been shut for a week, they announced a series of meetings to resolve the situation.

“The ombudsmen of both countries will work on a protocol for deportations … the defence ministers of both countries will meet to analyse the situation on the border … the government of Colombia will begin operations in the area very soon,” said Ms Holguin.

She added that a joint operation between the countries had netted 247 suspected smugglers and other criminals.

Ms Holguin also acknowledged Venezuela’s record of hospitality towards its five million Colombian immigrants, many of whom are refugees from political violence, saying: “Venezuela has generously welcomed Colombians for decades.”

And she rejected attempts to sour relations between the two neighbours.

“Nobody, absolutely nobody, will take us away from the line of co-operation with Venezuela. We will continue working united,” she said.

But in Bogota, former Colombian president and sitting senator Alvaro Uribe led a small march of 300 people to the Venezuelan consulate to protest against what he called Mr Maduro’s “nazi tactics.”

Mr Uribe’s 2002-10 government was marked by frequent murders of trade unionists and peasants and impunity for the right-wing death squads responsible.