Cúcuta, Norte de Santander Department, Andes Region, Colombia

🇨🇴 Cúcuta, officially San José de Cúcuta, is a Colombian city, capital of Norte de Santander department. It is located in the north-east of the country, in the eastern branch of the Colombian Andes, on the border with Venezuela. Due to its proximity with Venezuela, Cúcuta is an important commercial centre, hosting many billion dollar companies. The international border in Cúcuta is said to be the most dynamic of South America.

The city is the political, economic, industrial, artistic, cultural, sports and tourist epicenter of Norte de Santander and constitutes, in turn, as the most important urban settlement of the Colombian-Venezuelan border along with the Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal, due to its trade dynamics and its historical importance in the consolidation of the modern states of Colombia and Venezuela as well as its diplomatic relations, hosting events such as the Battle of Cúcuta of 1813, the Congress of Cúcuta of 1821 in Villa del Rosario, in more recent times the signing of the 1941 Treaty of Limits between Colombia and Venezuela, the 1959 Treaty of Tonchalá, the charity concerts Peace Without Borders of 2008 and Venezuela Aid Live of 2019, among others. It also played a significant role during Colombian immigration to Venezuela and has recently become one of the most important transit points of the Venezuelan migration crisis.

As the capital of Norte de Santander, Cúcuta houses the main governmental bodies of departmental order such as the Government of Norte de Santander, the Assembly of Norte de Santander, the Superior Court of Cúcuta, the Judicial District of Cúcuta, the Administrative Court of Norte de Santander and the regional branches of the Superior Council of the Judiciary and the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia. Cúcuta is connected by road with Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Valledupar, Cartagena de Indias and, by its border condition, with Venezuela. It has an air terminal, the Camilo Daza International Airport, and a ground terminal, the Central de Transportes de Cúcuta.

Its flagship university is the Francisco de Paula Santander University, one of the most important universities in eastern Colombia. It also has the presence of other universities of local and national renown such as the University of Pamplona, the FESC, the Free University of Colombia, the Simón Bolivar University, the University of Santander, the Saint Thomas University, among others.

Economy The city is notable for bilateral trade and manufacturing. Its location on the border between Colombia and Venezuela has made possible strong links with the Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal, Táchira. Its Free Zone is the most active of all those in the country and one of the most active in all Latin America, largely due to Venezuela being Colombia's second largest trade partner.

The most developed industries are dairy, construction, textiles, shoes, and leather. The city is a top producer of cement and its clay and stoneware industry has the best reputation nationally for its high quality. The mining of coal also plays an important role in the local economy. The University Francisco de Paula Santander in Cucuta, the National University of Colombia in Bogotá, and the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia in Tunja are the only ones in the country that provide for the career of Mining Engineering.

The peso is the official and sole legal tender currency in the city. Owing to its proximity to Venezuela, the bolívar was accepted by the vast majority of commercial establishments until the rapid devaluation of the Venezuelan currency began after the 2013 recession.

US–Colombia Free Trade Agreement, implications for Cúcuta Colombia signed a Free Trade Agreement with the United States against opposition by Venezuela. Despite this opposition, industries from Venezuela are constructing their infrastructure in Cúcuta to export their products to the United States, registering their products as if they were Colombian, a strategy that allows them to export without paying certain tariffs. For that reason, Cúcuta is expected to become an industrial city.

Colombian law provides tax exemptions for Venezuelan imports through the Zona Franca, which, coupled with the motorway links between Cúcuta and Maracaibo, increases the possibility of exports from Maracaibo into Colombia.