The dispute stems from islands formed by sedimentation in the Amazon River after the Rio de Janeiro treaty was signed. On Tuesday, President Gustavo Petro accused Peru of seizing Colombian territory in the Amazon, violating the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, which ended the war between the two countries from 1932 to 1933.

“Peru has taken over a territory that belongs to Colombia and has violated the Rio de Janeiro Protocol… That agreement established that the border is the deepest line of the Amazon River and that any disagreement would be resolved between the parties,” Petro said.

The dispute stems from islands formed by sedimentation in the Amazon River after the treaty was signed. Petro said these islands are “north of the current deepest line,” and that the Peruvian government “has just claimed them through legislation and placed the capital of a municipality on land that, under the treaty, should belong to Colombia.”

“This unilateral action, in violation of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, could eliminate Leticia as an Amazon port, stripping it of its commercial lifeline. The Colombian government will first and foremost use diplomatic channels to defend national sovereignty,” Petro said.

He announced the issue would be discussed Thursday in Leticia, the capital of the Amazonas department, during the National Army Day celebration commemorating the Battle of Boyaca, which sealed Colombia’s independence.

In July 2024, Diego Cadena, then-director of Territorial Sovereignty at Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Santa Rosa Island does not belong to Peru and was being irregularly occupied. He also rejected the authority of the island’s mayor, Peruvian Ivan Yovera.

The Peruvian government responded by filing a protest with Colombia’s charge d’affaires in Lima and reaffirmed “sovereignty and jurisdictional rights over Santa Rosa Island.” However, then–Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez-Olaechea declared the matter closed on July 15, 2024, expressing “satisfaction” with the Colombian government’s response to Peru’s diplomatic protest.

Santa Rosa Island, located near the tri-border area of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia, is home to about 3,000 residents who primarily engage in commerce.

“Santa Rosa de Yavari Island: Triple border nerve (map). The Santa Rosa de Yavari island, located in the Amazonas River, in front of Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil), is a Peruvian territory that arose towards the 1970s due to a natural process of fragmentation of the island of Chineria. This Tuesday, the space has once again sought after the pronouncement of Gustavo Petro.”

Colombian Foreign Ministry’s Arguments

In a statement, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said that Santa Rosa Island formed later within the course of the Amazon River, following the only official island allocation between the two countries in 1929.

“For Santa Rosa Island and others that have emerged since 1929, an allocation process must be carried out by mutual agreement between the foreign ministries, according to the arrangements reached by both countries,” the ministry said.

“To that end, Colombia and Peru established the Permanent Joint Commission for the Inspection of the Colombia–Peru Border (Comperif). For years, Colombia has insisted on the need for bilateral work to assign islands and has reiterated that Santa Rosa Island has not been assigned to Peru,” it added.

The statement also noted that following the enactment of the “Law for the Creation of the Santa Rosa de Loreto District in the Province of Mariscal Ramon Castilla, Loreto Department,” Colombia has issued formal diplomatic protests to the Peruvian government, requesting the reactivation of Comperif “as soon as possible to determine the sovereignty of the islands that emerged in the Amazon River after 1929.”

Citizen Revolution’s leader Rafael Correa urged voters to reject the referendum. On Tuesday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa unveiled seven questions for a popular consultation and referendum expected to take place by the end of the year.

The first question seeks to eliminate the constitutional ban on establishing foreign military bases or foreign military facilities on national territory, as well as the ban on ceding national military bases to foreign armed forces. The National Assembly had previously amended a constitutional article to allow for such a change.

The second question proposes eliminating the obligation of the state to allocate funding from the general budget to political organizations, which would partially reform the Constitution.

The third question concerns the potential elimination of the Citizen Participation and Social Control Council (CPCCS), the institution currently responsible for appointing key authorities such as the attorney general and the state comptroller. Its duties and powers would be transferred to the National Assembly, the Ombudsman’s Office, and the Office of the Comptroller General.

The fourth question would ask the public whether they agree with modifying the electoral system to reduce the current number of lawmakers, which now stands at 151. The fifth question proposes allowing hourly employment contracts in tourism-related activities.

The sixth question seeks to determine whether the public agrees that Constitutional Court judges should be subject to political trials, just like other authorities.

Finally, the seventh question addresses the possibility of allowing gambling halls and casinos in five-star hotels, which would pay the state a tax ranging from 20% to 25% of their revenues.

After the questions were made public, former President Rafael Correa criticized Noboa’s initiative and urged voters to reject the referendum. He posted a lengthy message on social media platform X, stating:

“1. NO. Dignity also sustains a nation, and it’s clear that military bases are not the solution. Colombia has seven. We were better off after the Manta base closed, but the right is an expert at destroying and then selling us their “solutions.”

2. NO. What they want is to turn political parties into banana plantations or bank branches. Yes, we must be much stricter, especially in campaign financing.

3. NO. This is a return to the past: Congress appointing oversight authorities—pure backroom deals! The problem is that [former President] Moreno and [former official] Trujillo destroyed the CPCCS, whose members used to be selected through merit-based competitions. The fever isn’t in the sheets: there can be no virtuous institutions without virtuous individuals. As long as the most deceitful person is not the most punished, but the most applauded, no institution will work.

4. We need to review the annex, but coming from Noboa, there’s likely a trick. The current representation in the Assembly is fairly reasonable.

5. We need to review the annex, but hourly contracts were disguised exploitation. One of the biggest exploiters was the Noboa Corporation on its banana plantations.

6. YES. Making the Constitutional Court untouchable is something for more mature democracies. Since it was illegally replaced during the Trujillo era, this body has gone along with anything. It’s the lesser evil, though I repeat: there are no virtuous institutions without virtuous individuals.

7. NO. This was one of the best decisions made. Many believe gambling addiction—ludopathy—is worse than alcoholism or drug addiction. Above all, it’s the best way to launder money. It would be disastrous combined with dollarization, which facilitates laundering.”

None of this will solve the crisis the country is facing, and measures like questions 2 and 7 “will certainly make it worse,” Correa added.

“The national tragedy is not about laws or institutions, but about bad governments. So this referendum can also be an opportunity to deliver a resounding NO to an inept and corrupt government. We are being governed by criminals,” the Citizen Revolution leader concluded.

This teacher became a symbol of resistance to the Argentine dictatorship. On Tuesday, Enriqueta Rodriguez-Maroni, former president of the Mayo Square Mothers–Founding Line, died at the age of 98 after decades of activism in Argentina’s fight for memory, truth and justice.

A tireless human rights advocate, Rodriguez dedicated her life to demanding justice for her disappeared children, Maria Beatriz and Juan Patricio Maroni. They were abducted on April 5, 1977, by a group of military personnel under the command of Gen. Carlos Suarez.

Her children and their partners were taken to the clandestine detention center known as Club Atletico, where Argentina’s dictatorship tortured and killed political prisoners. Days later, Juan Patricio’s wife was released, but he, his sister and Maria Beatriz’s husband, Carlos Rincon, were killed.

Rodriguez-Maroni became a symbol of resistance to the dictatorship when, during a demonstration in front of the Pink House presidential palace, she publicly denounced the regime’s crimes to the world.

“They came into our homes, raided them, and stole whatever they wanted. They destroyed our houses and robbed us of everything we had. And on top of that, they stole our children. We never heard from them again. The Army did it. The Army!” she said forcefully to foreign journalists.

“Enriqueta Rodriguez de Maroni, former president of the Founding Line of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, passed away at the age of 98. Enriqueta was a teacher and rose to prominence when she was interviewed on Dutch television during one of the marches during the 1978 World Cup.”

Rodriguez-Maroni was interviewed by Dutch television during the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, while the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo were marching in defiance of the dictatorship. Her voice, firm and full of pain, echoed across the globe as a testament to the atrocities suffered by the Argentine people.

“In Argentina, they tried to impose a plan of terror alongside an economic plan of growing marginalization, punishing those who thought differently. The military forces saw themselves as ‘messiahs’ who would save the nation,” she wrote in a public letter.

“There was a sinister plan carried out by individuals who turned kidnapping, detention, torture, and disappearance into a ‘way of life’ for several years. In the darkest moments of our history, a generation committed itself to its time and its people,” she added, striving to keep alive the memory of her children and the thousands of others who were disappeared.

“We have the right to know what happened to our loved ones. From the world of silence to which we have been condemned, they knock on our conscience. To them, we say that our demands for justice, our search for the truth, our memory, and our love for them have never faltered,” Rodriguez-Maroni wrote in another letter.

In addition to her role as a Mother of Plaza de Mayo, she continued teaching in the working-class Cildañez neighborhood of Buenos Aires, even after her children’s disappearance. Alongside her daughter, Margarita Maroni, she remained active in the human rights movement.

Enriqueta Rodriguez-Maroni’s legacy endures as a beacon of struggle and dignity. She was not only the mother of two disappeared young people, but the mother of a cause that continues to challenge Argentine society: the pursuit of justice, the preservation of memory, and the rejection of oblivion.