MADRID, 22 (EUROPA PRESS)
The governments of Colombia and Peru resumed talks on Thursday amid growing hostility over the island of Santa Rosa de Yaraví, located on the triple border between the two countries and Brazil, after Lima elevated it to municipal status, which Bogotá considers an attempt to annex its territory.
This was demonstrated by Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio and her Peruvian counterpart, Elmer Schialer, this Thursday in the Colombian capital, which hosted the summit of Amazonian countries.
During a parallel meeting held with "cordiality and respect," both sides confirmed the holding of the permanent joint commission for the inspection of the Colombian-Peruvian border on September 11 and 12 in Lima. This meeting was announced earlier this month by Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The Prime Minister of Colombia, Eduardo Arana, responded by stating that "there is no discussion whatsoever" on the matter.
In a joint statement, the two representatives defended their willingness to "work together to ensure the navigability of the Amazon River and comprehensively address the needs of the populations along our shared border" and affirmed their intention to "always maintain dialogue, in harmony with the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation existing between the two countries."
In early August, President Petro accused Peru of "taking over territory that belongs to Colombia." The neighboring country's Foreign Ministry expressed its "strongest and most energetic protest" in response to the declaration, defending the creation, in mid-June, of "a new district of Santa Rosa, exercising the powers and authority conferred upon it by the Constitution."
