Colombia and Peru launch formal talks on sovereignty of Santa Rosa and navigability of the Amazon at the Lima summit: the key points of the meeting

The border dispute between Colombia and Peru over the Amazonian island of Santa Rosa enters a decisive phase this week. On September 11 and 12, high-level delegates from both countries are scheduled to meet in Lima to reactivate the Permanent Joint Commission for Border Inspection (Comperif) , in an attempt to contain tension before the case reaches international bodies.

After the Colombian government, headed by Gustavo Petro, denied the sovereignty of its neighboring country over the island located in the Amazonian triple border across from Leticia, due to the lack of a mutually agreed allocation process as established by the Rio de Janeiro Protocol signed in 1934, which ratifies the 1922 Solomon-Lozano Boundary Treaty, the government of Dina Boluarte invited the reactivation of this technical body with the aim of reviewing the matter through dialogue channels.

This body was created through an exchange of notes on February 7, 1986, between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Allan Wagner, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Augusto Ramírez Ocampo. According to the Institute of International Studies (IDEI) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, it provides a specialized technical body for inspecting the border line (1,623 kilometers) and carrying out repair, replacement, and densification of border markers, as well as any other related matters.

For Angélica Rodríguez, a professor in the Political Science Program at the National University of Colombia, Medellín campus, the reactivation of Comperif is positive because it materializes the two countries' intention to keep channels of dialogue open. "This seeks to de-escalate tensions and, to the extent possible, prevent the dispute from escalating to other international forums," she commented.

In this regard, internationalist Manuel Camilo González explains that each country will have the opportunity to present its positions. "The essential thing is to calm the tension so that the controversy can be peacefully expressed. The interested parties will have to present their demands."

While Bogotá claims it must undergo an allocation process, Lima argues that the island is a division of Chinería Island, which was assigned to it in 1929 and therefore belongs to it. It sought to demonstrate this with the unilateral act of creating the District of Santa Rosa in 2024.

I would expect that at that meeting both parties will not reach an agreement, but that the path will be opened to reach that agreement.

According to studies by the National University, Santa Rosa Island began to form around the 1950s, and a decade later it began to be permanently populated by mostly Peruvian inhabitants, and later state authorities (police post, immigration, customs) were established within the Peruvian territory marked by the talweg (the deepest part of the Amazon River that marks the border between Colombia and Peru).

The educational institution explained that in recent decades, the old central channel began to sediment, shifting toward the back of Santa Rosa Island, bringing the island closer to the mainland where Leticia is located. This hampered navigation and the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and goods, mainly from the riverside settlements on the Colombian shore, located between the towns of Leticia and Puerto Nariño.

“The Peruvian chancellor, without further justification and without credibly denying the nonexistence of Santa Rosa, rushed to suggest its origin in a division of Chinería Island, a matter that, in addition to not being adequately documented, is still completely secondary and diverts from the main issue, namely: the change and displacement of the central channel of the Amazon that marks the border line,” said Carlos Zárate Botía, adjunct professor at UNAL Amazonia Campus, member of the UNAL Transborder Studies Group (GET), and director of the UNAL Center for Thought on Borders (CPF).

For Angélica Rodríguez, it is important that the Commission address this challenge with the conciliatory spirit inherent in binational cooperation because the transformations of the Amazon River will continue, generating new mutations in the appearance and/or disappearance of islands. She also believes that ensuring the navigability of the river and the well-being of the inhabitants of the shared border must take priority .

However, he adds that each country has different interpretations of the Commission's scope . "Peru believes it should not address territorial disputes; its scope extends only to prevention. Colombia's view is different and maintains the possibility of resorting to the International Court of Justice."

"The time that has passed has deteriorated the chances of negotiation," Petro asserted at the events a month ago in Leticia.

Within the framework of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) summit held in Bogotá, Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio and her counterpart, Elmer Schialer, held a bilateral meeting in which they agreed on the need to ensure navigability on the Amazon River and comprehensively address the needs of the populations along the shared border.

" I hope that at that meeting, both parties will not reach an agreement, but rather that the path will be paved to reach that agreement ," said internationalist Manuel Camilo González.

Juan Pablo Penagos Ramirez