From May 31 to June 2, 2022, a two-part meeting took place between the Definitors and Guardians of the Provincial Custody of Our Lady of Coromoto in Venezuela and the Provincial Custody of St. Francis of Assisi in Colombia. The meeting was held at the San Antonio de Padua Friary in Bogotá, Colombia.

The event was led by the respective Provincial Custodes: Friar Franklin DURÁN ZAMBRANO (Venezuela) and Friar Sidifredo de la Cruz CHAPARRO GUALDRÓN (Colombia).
Tuesday, May 31, was dedicated to a meeting between both Definitories. The meeting began with Mass presided over by the Custos, Friar Franklin. The Minister General, Friar Carlos TROVARELLI, later participated in the meeting by sending a video message. He greeted the friars of both Custodies and encouraged them to journey together, to create paths of cooperation and communion, and to strengthen the fraternal bonds between the two Custodies. Friar Carlos urged them to pave the way for what does not yet exist and to do so always with the utmost discernment in order to discover what the Spirit wants for them and to choose the most charismatic way to put it into practice.

The Provincial Custodes then briefly presented the history and status of their respective Jurisdictions as well as the difficulties and challenges they face. Friar Carlos ORTÍZ ROJAS, the Custodial Vicar of Venezuela, then presented the project “Facility for Solid Non-Sterile Pharmaceuticals in Cúcuta, Colombia” developed by the Bynode Foundation, which provides affordable drugs to vulnerable populations at the border and inside Venezuela. It was agreed that two friars from the Custody of Venezuela will actively participate in the General Assembly of Bynode in Colombia and one of them will be a member of the Board of Directors. In this way, the Custodies are strengthening their ties of mutual collaboration and are taking on projects in an orderly, systematic, and financially transparent way, in keeping with the parameters established by the Order while observing the complex regulations of Colombian law.
As part of formation, a course in Franciscanism has been organized for the temporarily professed friars of both Custodies. The course will also be open to other Jurisdictions of the Federación América Latina Conventuales (FALC). It will begin in December of 2022, in Venezuela, during the end-of-year holidays and will last two weeks. It will be held alternately in both Custodies.
On June 1, 2022, the Guardians of both Custodies held a fraternal and formative meeting led by Friar Sidifredo de la Cruz. He lectured on various topics, in light of Canon Law and the Constitutions, including “The Brother Guardian, Minister of the Local Fraternity” and “Juridical Elements of the Service of the Authority of the Local Superior (the Franciscan Guardian).”
In his online greeting, the Assistant General for the FALC Federation, Friar Rogério PEREIRA XAVIER, summarized the charismatic aspects of the service of the Guardian.
On June 2, the participants visited the National Shrine of the Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Chiquinquirá, Patroness of Colombia, in the town of Chiquinquirá.
The meeting was a time of grace and blessing. May the Lord continue to show all the confreres the ways of fraternal communion between the two Custodies.

Friar Sidifredo de la Cruz CHAPARRO GUALDRÓN, FALC President