The scenarios in which Colombia would see its access to the Amazon River compromised

President Gustavo Petro believes that the claim against Peru for possession of an island in the Amazon River will be a lengthy process that could end up in international courts. He denied that it is a political strategy ahead of the 2026 legislative and presidential elections.

(See: Peruvian government accused Colombia of air incursion on Santa Rosa Island .)

" This process is longer than what's happening today and will overwhelm the government. These steps take months; and if we reach a scenario of an international lawsuit, then years, as happened with San Andrés ," the president said in an interview with the newspaper El Espectador, in which he compared the current dispute with the one he had with Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés.

Petro, who on Tuesday, August 5, accused Peru of appropriating " a territory that belongs to Colombia " on the Amazon River, visited the city of Leticia, on the border with Peru, during the August 7 commemoration, where he stated: " Colombia does not recognize Peru's sovereignty over the so-called Santa Rosa Island and does not recognize the de facto authorities imposed in the area ."

(See: Peru clarifies to Colombia that there is nothing to discuss regarding sovereignty of Amazon island ).

Petro's position has prompted a harsh response from the Peruvian government, which stated that " there is no discussion " about its sovereignty over the Amazonian district of Santa Rosa de Loreto, inhabited by Peruvian citizens and authorities.

Colombia and Peru signed a treaty in 1922 establishing the Amazon River as the boundary between the two countries. They subsequently assigned the corresponding islands to each country. However , changes in the river's course have led to the emergence of new islands whose ownership has not been determined, which is what Colombia is claiming in this case.

Colombian access to the Amazon compromised

According to Petro, " Colombia is seeing its access to the Amazon River disappear " because with the changes in its course, the islands of Santa Rosa and Chinería "have been sticking together" in a kind of bridge that could leave Leticia, capital of the Colombian department of Amazonas, isolated from the river at the point where it forms a triple border with the Brazilian city of Tabatinga.

(See: How Peruvian is Santa Rosa? This is life on the Amazonian island that Colombia is asking for .)

" So, that is a strategic loss, and it is not just any loss; it is not the loss of an island as they want to make it seem ," Petro added in the interview in which he pointed out that " what is happening now is triggered by Peru's unilateral act " of declaring "as Peruvian territory, through a Peruvian law, what is called Santa Rosa Island."

For the president, the claim to Peru should have been made " in 2017 and under the president at the time (Juan Manuel Santos )" but since that did not happen, "the time that has passed has deteriorated the possibilities of a joint negotiation."

" The Rio de Janeiro Treaty (1934) establishes a bilateral consultation body that was designed precisely for this type of problem. The emergence of islands, due to the movements of the river, creates a kind of mobile border and, therefore, the need for an agreement every time a problem like this arises. That was not done in 2017 ," he noted.

In his August 7 speech in Leticia, Petro expressed Colombia's willingness to reactivate the Permanent Joint Commission for the Inspection of the Colombian-Peruvian Border (Comperif) and confirmed that he had received an invitation from the Peruvian government to participate in a meeting of this body on September 11 and 12 in Lima.

(See: Santa Rosa, the small island that sparked a standoff between Colombia and Peru ).

Petro rejected criticism, even in his own country, from those who believe he is waving the flag of sovereignty and territorial defense for electoral purposes.

" This has nothing to do with the elections in Colombia or with issues in Colombia ," the president said, reiterating that the reason for his complaint is the decision of the Peruvian Congress on June 12, which approved the creation of the district of Santa Rosa, until then part of the Peruvian municipality of Yavarí, in the Amazonian department of Loreto.

EFE