The lowest point in the relationship occurred on August 19, 1987, after the Colombian corvette ARC Caldas (FM-52) trespassed into disputed waters and then President of Venezuela, Jaime Lusinchi, ordered the Venezuelan Air Force to the area.

[8] The treaty was signed by chancellors Esteban Gil Borges, from Venezuela and Luis López de Mesa, from Colombia, with the presence of the ambassadors Santiago Rodríguez and Alberto Pumarejo in the city of Cúcuta.

Once again, on June 20, 1989, Colombia and Venezuela created the Comisión de vecindad Colombo-Venezolana (Colombo-Venezuelan neighborhood Commission).

[13] In 1994 Colombian and Venezuelan government created the Comisión binacional de Fronteras (Combifron) or "Binational Commission of Frontiers" which intended to exchange military intelligence between the two countries.

On March 21, 2000, Four Venezuelan helicopters and two airplanes entered Colombian airspace and bombarded an area in the jungle region of Catatumbo, in the Department of North Santander.

Between May and June 2000, Venezuelan truckers blocked the border crossing between the two countries protesting the lack of guarantees for their safety in Colombia due to the constant attacks perpetrated by the Colombian guerrillas.

In February 2001 the ELN commander José María Ballestas, accused in Colombia of hijacking an Avianca airplane, was captured in Venezuela but later released causing diplomatic tensions between the governments of Hugo Chávez and Andrés Pastrana.

After the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt toppled Chávez for two days, Pedro Carmona fled house arrest and asked for political asylum at the Colombian ambassador's residence in Caracas, which he was later granted.

Granda was transported by his captors to the border city of Cúcuta in Colombia and taken into custody by the Colombian National Police on rebellion charges.

[23][24] Operation Emmanuel used Venezuelan aircraft in coordination with the International Red Cross to fly into Colombia and rescue the hostages from the FARC.

[25] On March 1, 2008, the Colombian military launched an attack against FARC in the border area between Colombia and Ecuador, which ended with the death of some 19 guerrillas, including the group's second-in-command Raúl Reyes.

[27] Reacting to the event, Hugo Chávez stated that if Colombia launched a similar operation within Venezuelan borders he would consider it a casus belli and verbally attacked the Colombian president.

[29] Chavez asked Latin American nations and the European Union to remove FARC from their lists of terrorist organizations, which they roundly refused to do.

[30][31] In June 2008 Chávez worked to get FARC rebels in Colombia to release hostages and end their war against the Colombian government.

In response, President Chavez ordered most staff members of the embassy in Colombia to return to Venezuela, including the ambassador.

President Chávez stated that the five anti-tank rockets were stolen when the Colombian guerrilla group FARC attacked a military post in 1995 and took the armaments.

[35][36] However, Colombian newsweekly Revista Semana reported that the attack on the Venezuelan outpost in 1995 was actually carried out by the National Liberation Army (ELN) instead of FARC and that Chávez could not explain how the weapons would have passed from one guerrilla group to another.

Uribe presented evidence to the Organization of American States (OAS) allegedly drawn from laptops acquired in Colombia's 2008 raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador, which had sparked the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis.

Chávez told the guerillas that there could be no military solution to the conflict, and Santos agreed to turn over the disputed laptops to the Ecuadorean government.

In 2013, a new diplomatic crisis erupted because of discomfort expressed by the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro for the reception of opposition leader Henrique Capriles by his Colombian counterpart Juan Manuel Santos at the Presidential Palace in May 2013.

[38] Capriles was on a regional tour denouncing the alleged fraud in the presidential elections of 2013 in which the "successor" of Hugo Chávez had won by a narrow margin.

[45] Carreño stated that Venezuelan Sukhoi fighter jets would destroy the seven bridges crossing the Magdalena River in order to virtually divide Colombia in two.

[48] Upon assuming the Colombian Presidency on August 7, 2018, Iván Duque announced that he would not have an ambassador in Venezuela because he does not recognise the Maduro administration.

[49] On 12 August 2018, former Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Roy Chaderton, stated that Venezuelans are "more civilized" than Colombians and referred to himself as "part of the Pedro Carreño command" of the Bolivarian government, believing that Venezuelan troops must conquer Colombia and "reach the Pacific, because at last and finally we liberate the countries whose coasts are bathed by the Pacific Ocean...I believe that we...have military superiority".

[57][58] This situation persisted until August 28, 2022, when Colombia and Venezuela restored diplomatic relations following the election of Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Benedetti assured that one of his first goals as ambassador to Venezuela would be to boost trade between neighboring countries, which would benefit border residents in particular.

[65] The Colombian head of state arrived at Maiquetia Airport and was received by Venezuelan Vice President Delci Rodriguez.