Venezuela reopened its land border with Brazil and its maritime border with the Dutch island of Aruba, which has been closed since the opposition bid for aid in February, the vice president in charge of the economy said Friday.
"The borders with Brazil and Aruba have been reopened," Tariq al-Issami said in a televised address, adding that his country´s borders with Colombia and the rest of the Dutch islands (Bonaire and Curaçao) remained closed.
"We are reaching out to establish an honest dialogue" with Brazil and Aruba, the Venezuelan official said.
This comes after relations between Venezuela and Brazil have been strained since the arrival of right-wing leader Jair Paulsonaro in power in Brazil in January.
Earlier on Friday, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Arroga said that the arrest of an opposition leader in Venezuela was "a desperate act," referring to the arrest of the deputy speaker of parliament, which is governed by the Venezuelan opposition.
"We are very concerned ... about the time of repression of the democratic opposition, which is no longer an opposition, but a legitimate one," he said after talks with opposition leader Juan Guido as president of Venezuela.
