If the Summit of the Americas was anything to go by, U.S.-Colombia bilateral relations are at an all time high. President Iván Duque was celebrated, again, for his decision to grant legal status to 1.8 million Venezuelan refugees in the country. President Biden used the opportunity to speak, once again, about his “long term friend” and their close relationship.
And it’s not just Duque. “Colombia is the keystone of U.S. policy in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Biden has said on more than one occasion. A month ago, Colombia became the United States’s 17th “Major Non-NATO Ally.” Even more recently, the Biden administration pulled up all the stops to celebrate 200 years of U.S.-Colombia relations in a celebrity-packed gathering at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
Back home, however, things are not looking so bright for the soon-to-be-former Colombian president, whose term ends August 7. Not only is his approval rating at an all-time low but he is leaving his country in worse shape than he found it. |
