Tensions have arisen between Colombia and Peru over the control over an island in the Amazon river on the border between the two countries..
A diplomatic row escalated on Tuesday when Colombian President Gustavo Petro claimed that Peru was laying claim over the disputed Santa Rosa island.
On July 3rd, Peru passed a law that officially created the Santa Rosa Loreto District, formally asserting control of the island.
The Island is located right off the Tri-border zone of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, and was formed naturally in the 1960’s.
In a treaty that helped end a war over Amazonian territories in the 1930’s, the two governments agreed to fix the border at the deepest point of the Amazon River.
Peruvian authorities have effectively controlled the newly arisen island off the coast of Leticia, the capital of Colombia’s most southern Amazonas province.
The Peruvian Congress’ decision to formally lay claim on the island without resorting to a diplomatic solution triggered protests by Petro, who ordered to organize his country’s independence day celebrations on the border on August 7.
“The commemoration of the Battle of Boyacá, the commemoration of national independence, is moved to Leticia, because once again, the Peruvian government has taken over a territory that belongs to Colombia,” said the president on social media platform X.
“This unilateral action, in violation of the Rio de Janeiro treaty, could make Leticia disappear as an Amazonian port, taking away its commercial life,” Petro added.
The Foreign Ministry said in a press statement that it had asked the Peruvian government to reactivate the bilateral negotiations process, which would allow the two countries to come to an agreement on who controls Santa Rosa.
In a response, The Peruvian government expressed “its strongest and most energetic protest with respect to the declarations of the Government of Colombia regarding the sovereign rights and acts of jurisdiction that Peru has legitimately and legally exercised publicly and permanently for more than a century over the integrity of its national territory.”
Lima did not immediately agree to bilateral talks on the issue.
