by Our Foreign Desk

COLOMBIA and Venezuela have agreed to reassign ambassadors withdrawn in a month-old dispute that has killed trade and movement along their border.

The presidents of the two neighbours met in Ecuador’s capital Quito on Monday to discuss Venezuela’s decision to close its border with Colombia and deport Colombian nationals allegedly responsible for the smuggling blighting the Venezuelan economy.

The meeting was brokered by Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a close ally of Venezuela, and Uruguay’s President Tabare Vazquez, the current head of the 12-member Union of South American Nations.

Going into the session, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos had said that he held low expectations after two meetings between the countries’ foreign ministers failed to produce a breakthrough.

But afterwards, he said he would work to satisfy Venezuelan concerns.

The foreign ministers will continue the negotiations today.

The crisis began when suspected Colombian paramilitaries shot three Venezuelan soldiers in the border regions. Subsequent operations have captured dozens of alleged paramilitaries, while also uncovering explosives making operations, brothels using minors and clandestine prisons that authorities say were likely used for kidnappings and torture.

While Mr Maduro’s tactics have been attacked by human rights groups and at the United Nations, few deny the situation on Venezuela’s western border had become chaotic.

Gangs regularly crossed the border with fuel, food and other staples purchased at low government-controlled prices in Venezuela and sold for huge profits in Colombia.

Venezuela says that as much as 40 per cent of its goods are smuggled out of the country, costing the economy billions.