Eight years ago Colombia lost 40% of the sea

On Monday, November 19, 2012, Colombians started the week with sad news. At the headquarters of the International Court of Justice in The Hague they have redefined the maritime borders between Colombia and Nicaragua, leaving the latter 40% of the sea that previously belonged to Colombians.

The conflict on the maritime territory began in 1980, but it has been in 2001 when Nicaragua claimed its sovereignty in San Andrés and Providencia, denouncing Colombia before the ICJ. The dispute lasted more than 10 years, until the International Court of Justice ruled it Nicaragua, from its coast, had 531 km, while Colombia was granted 65 km. The ICJ also ruled that each country was entitled to 12 nautical miles of territory, This is what caused Colombia to lose 40% of the sea, but to maintain sovereignty over the seven keys of San Andrés.

“Colombia and not Nicaragua, has the sovereignty of the keys of Albuquerque, East Southeast, Roncador, Serrana, Quitasueño, Serranilla and Bajonuevo,” said the then president of the International Court of Justice, Peter Tomka, in The Hague in 2012. .

The dispute between the two governments would have ended with the ruling of the International Court. But nevertheless, the problem was for the raizales; the inhabitants of San Andrés from that moment could not access the fishing area which meant the economic support of their familiesSince that place was now part of Nicaragua’s maritime territory, crossing it would violate international law.

On several occasions, Nicaragua has denounced Colombia for violating its maritime territory. In 2018, for example, Colombia presented its defense to the ICJ for this other complaint; The document presented by the then Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo established that “Nicaragua has violated the artisanal fishing rights of the inhabitants of the archipelago, in particular the community of Raizal, to access and exploit their traditional fishing areas”, he said. Trujillo at that time.

WHY WAS THE CONFLICT GENERATED?

The maritime conflict between Nicaragua and Colombia dates back to 1928, when both countries signed the Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty, which determined that the Mosquito Coast and surrounding islands would belong to the government of Managua, meanwhile the archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia would be Colombian property.

However, the limit that the meridian 82 became a source of controversy in 1980. The Sandinista junta that ruled Nicaragua at the time declared the agreement null and void and asked for sovereignty over San Andrés y Providencia, claiming that 50 years before the right to the sea and that the accession to the treaty was under the intervention of the United States in the country.

In December 2001, Nicaragua formally filed a lawsuit against Colombia for the territories, which also included Santa Catalina, at the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague. From Colombia, The government of Álvaro Uribe considered that the declaration of nullity of the pact was unilateral and, therefore, in violation of international law. On this matter he presented his appeal to the Court.

In 2007, the first hearings were held in The Hague, although Uribe refused to recognize the competence of the International Court of Justice to deal with the matter. On 20 July, with a military parade celebrated by the Colombian president in San Andrés, on the occasion of Independence Day, he took the tension to the max. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega considered it a “provocation”. The following year, both countries would break off relations.

After the 2012 International Court of Justice ruling, President Juan Manuel Santos ruled that the decision would not be followed up until a new treaty was signed with Managua. However, before Colombia complained about the Court’s decision, Nicaragua was the first to believe the ICJ was wrong.

Former Foreign Minister Julio Londoño Paredes, an expert on this conflict, explained to El Espectador that Nicaragua “He was entitled to maritime rights in a ratio of 8 to 1 compared to Colombia, and the judges recognized the rights only in a ratio of 3 to 1”, which is why Nicaragua did not agree with the ruling of the International Court of Justice either.

KEY DATES OF THE CONFLICT

The Santander media Vanguardia established a timeline, in 2012, in which it set these key dates in the maritime conflict between the two countries:

March 24, 1928: Signature of the Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty

December 6, 2001: Nicaragua denounces Colombia before the ICJ

April 8, 2003: Nicaragua submits the Report within the set period

July 21, 2003: Colombia presents preliminary objections to the ICJ

13 December 2007: The ICJ rules in relation to the exceptions

November 11, 2008: Colombia delivers its Counter-Memorial to the Court

September 18, 2009: Nicaragua presented its response document

June 18, 2010: Colombia has delivered its rejoinder document

11-15 October 2010: Request for hearings for Costa Rica’s intervention

18-22 October 2010: Hearings for the request for intervention in Honduras

May 4, 2011: Decision on the request for intervention of the two countries

From 23 April to 4 May 2012: Beginning of the oral phase (public hearings)

November 19, 2012: The ICJ issues its final judgment, which is final and binding on the parties

THE CURRENT SITUATION

The problem resumed this week with the passage of Hurricane Iota which severely affected San Andrés and Providencia.

Julio Londoño Paredes, current dean of the Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies of the U. del Rosario and, for many years, Colombia’s special agent for the dispute with Nicaragua, told El Espectador that “Colombia never cared about the archipelago, even in the 19th century, the government at that time instructed the Colombian ambassador of the time in Washington, Enrique Cortés, to try to sell it to the United States, what happens is that at that time the Americans were not interested. “

Londoño told the media that it wasn’t until the creation of the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport that the country began to enhance the archipelago. In recent days, the inhabitants of the islands relive their claim of years to the current government, they define themselves as a “forgotten territory” in which there is still a lot to work on.

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