Territorial Disputes of Nicaragua - San Andres Y Providencia

San Andres Y Providencia

See also: San Andrés y Providencia Department and Colombia-Nicaragua relations

In 1670 the English corsair Henry Morgan took over the islands until 1689. In 1803, after Spain's Viceroyalty of New Granada had been reestablished in 1739, the archipelago and the province of Veraguas – covering the western territory of Panama and the eastern coast of Nicaragua – were added to its area of jurisdiction. In the later colonial era the territory was administered from the province of Cartagena.

After gaining its independence, the inhabitants of the islands -who had been under the control of Louis Aury- Louis-Michel Aury, voluntarily adhered to the Republic of Gran Colombia in 1822 and control over them was transferred to the department of Magdalena. Subsequently, the United Provinces of Central America (UPCA) did not recognize the occupation of the islands and claimed ownership over them, while Colombia in turn protested the UPCA's occupation of the eastern coast of modern day Nicaragua. The UPCA federation dissolved in civil war between 1838–1840 and the resulting state of Nicaragua carried on with the dispute, as did the Republic of the New Granada (made up of modern Colombia and Panama) that emerged from the dissolution of Gran Colombia.

Colombia later established a local administration ("intendencia") in the islands during 1912. The signing of the Esguerra-Bárcenas treaty in 1928 between both governments temporarily resolved the dispute in favor of Colombia. However, since 1980, when the Sandinista government assumed power in Nicaragua, a constitutional reform was enacted and the treaty was renounced.

Nicaraguans claim that the treaty was signed under United States pressure and military occupation and thus does not constitute a sovereign decision, while Colombia argues that the treaty's final ratification in 1930, when U.S. forces were already on their way out, confirms its validity.

In 2001 Nicaragua filed claims with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed maritime boundary involving 50,000 km² in the Caribbean, which includes the islands of San Andrés and Providencia. Colombia has claimed that the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the matter and has increased its naval and police presence in the islands. It has also prepared the legal defense of its case that will be presented before the tribunal. In a preliminary decision the Court has sided with Colombia on the question of sovereignty over the Islands (47 km²) but has agreed with Nicaragua that the rest of the maritime accidents is yet to be assigned according to the law of the sea and that the 82nd meridian is according to the Nicaraguan government not a maritime border. the Court said the islands belong to Colombia but as far as the maritime border and that it had competency to set that border to rule a final verdict on the dispute. In addition, Colombia and Honduras signed a maritime boundary treaty in 1999 which implicitly accepts Colombian sovereignty over the islands.