President Joe Biden designated Colombia as a major non-NATO ally, granting the South American nation increased collaboration on defense technologies, security, and trade benefits.
Biden made the announcement during a meeting with Colombian President Ivan Duque at the White House Thursday, calling the relationship between Washington and Bogota essential to “regional security and prosperity.”
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Colombia became a NATO security partner in 2017, the alliance’s first in the region. Biden thanked Duque for immediately condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which the trans-Atlantic alliance has rallied to support amid the invasion.
“The American people and the entire world have rallied to support the Ukrainian people,” the president said. “Ukraine will never, never be a victory for Putin.”
“Colombia is a keystone to our shared efforts to build a hemisphere as prosperous, secure, and democratic,” he continued, holding up the country as “an example” of the administration’s Build Back Better World initiative, which seeks to bring more investment to Latin America. He also called for a new framework to manage migration in the region.
Duque thanked Biden for a U.S. donation of 2 million COVID-19 vaccines, supporting Colombia’s green energy transition and immigration aid. Millions of Venezuelan migrants have crossed the border into Colombia, fleeing the Maduro regime.
The White House also announced the designation of Qatar as a major non-NATO ally Thursday.
Duque condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine as a violent and unjustified move. It is “a very horrifying moment for the world, and we have to condemn with a very strong sentiment,” he said.
The White House faced some pushback from the country’s energy minister this week in response to reports the Biden administration was looking to Venezuela to add oil barrels to the market after sanctioning Russia’s supply.
A U.S. delegation traveled to the country in recent days drawing criticism from Colombia over what appeared to be overtures to laying the groundwork for restarting oil imports from Venezuela.
“If you’ve just banned oil from what they call the Russian dictator, it’s difficult to explain why are you going to be buying oil from the Venezuelan dictator,” said Diego Mesa, Colombia’s energy minister, in an interview with the Financial Times on the sidelines of an energy conference this week.
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Speaking to reporters after meeting with Biden, Duque criticized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s regime but declined to say whether he raised the issue with the president when the two spoke.
“Regarding the specifics of that trip, regarding that issue, it is to the U.S. to respond,” Duque said. “Nicolas Maduro is a dictator, and we have condemned that dictatorship and have sued Nicolas Maduro before the International Criminal Court.”
