Overview

• On August 5, President Gustavo Petro accused Peru of breaching the 1934 Treaty of Rio de Janeiro by unilaterally absorbing Isla de Santa Rosa into its territory.
• Cancillería Colombia filed a formal protest and called for a joint process to assign islands formed after 1929 along the Amazon’s thalweg-defined border.
• Peru’s foreign ministry issued its own protest, citing 1922 and 1934 boundary agreements and a 1929 joint demarcation that affirm Santa Rosa’s inclusion in Peruvian jurisdiction.
• Declining water levels in the Amazon have altered the river’s course and exposed new islands like Santa Rosa, reigniting the long-dormant Colombia–Peru boundary dispute.
• As a symbolic assertion of sovereignty, Colombia will hold its August 7 Independence Day celebration in Leticia to underscore the city’s status as its sole Amazon port.