Colombia, Nicaragua border dustup

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Border disputes are recurring sources of invective and sometimes violence in Latin America, such as the 1990s miniwar fought by Ecuador and Peru.

These days, Venezuela and Guyana are at loggerheads over their common Orinoco delta territorial limits, and Bolivia’s claim to a piece of the Pacific Coast staked out by Chile since the two countries’ 19th century war is still a source of tension.

But a long- simmering dispute recently in the headlines involves offshore Caribbean territorial rights to an area near San Andres Island claimed by Colombia and Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega complained about the scheduled presence of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe at the Plan Puebla-Panama summit in Campeche Mexico this week. Ortega claimed that Colombia was coming to firm up regional alliances in the region with an eye to “rob” Nicaragua of its territory, an apparent reference to an appeal Nicaragua is making before the international tribunal at The Hague over the 1920s treaty that set the limits.

In comments to the Bogota daily El Tiempo, the Colombian foriegn relations ministry claimed that Colombian rights to the offshore parcel have been confirmed by international treaties and that Uribe was attending the Campeche summit to “further regional economic development and integration.”

Posted by Chris Kraul Bogota Bureau Chief