Colombian and Venezuelan officials watched the first truck cross a bridge connecting the two countries during a Monday ceremony to open their land border. CÚCUTA, Colombia—Colombia and Venezuela on Monday reopened their 1,400-mile border after it was closed for seven years as the new leftist government in Bogotá took a major step toward normalizing relations with a regime that the U.S. has accused of narco-trafficking and rights abuses. Surrounded by crowds of cheering onlookers, Colombian President Gustavo Petro met on the Simón Bolívar International Bridge with Venezuelan officials, as they held up the peace sign and sang their national anthems before the first Venezuelan cargo truck carrying steel crossed over the bridge into Colombia.

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