Colombia

Peru Protests Colombia's Military Flight Over Island in Amazon

AUG 9 2025·Updated AUG 11 2025

Story

Above: A welcome sign in the Amazonian island of Santa Rosa on Aug. 5, 2025. Image credit: Santiago Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

Peru sent a letter of protest to Colombia on Friday over an alleged violation of its national airspace after a Colombian military aircraft flew over Santa Rosa de Loreto, a Peruvian-controlled Amazonian island that Colombia claims has yet to be assigned to either of them.
Agencia Peruana de Noticias Andina
Bloomberg.com
Earlier that day, Peruvian Prime Minister Eduardo Arana said that the bilateral Permanent Joint Border Inspection Commission wouldn't discuss this border dispute in an upcoming meeting scheduled for next month, dismissing remarks from Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Agencia Peruana de Noticias Andina
Colombia One
In his speech on Thursday during Independence Day celebrations — held for the first time in Leticia, just across from the disputed island — Petro said that the summit was intended to resolve the matter, adding that a failure would lead to international litigation as Colombia doesn't recognize Peru's sovereignty over Santa Rosa.
Colombia One
EL PAÍS English
Longstanding bilateral tensions over the small island on the Amazon River have been on the rise recently. On Tuesday, Petro took to social media to accuse Peru of annexing Santa Rosa as the country passed a law designating it a district in its Loreto province last month.
Al Jazeera
Colombia Reports
Home to about 3,000 people, Santa Rosa sits at a triple border area also shared with Brazil. The island didn't even exist at the time that the two countries signed their border treaties and protocols, forming only some 50 years ago.
Bloomberg.com
The New York Times
Relations between Colombia and Peru have been strained for years, with the countries maintaining them only at the chargé d'affaires level since 2022 as Petro declared that Dina Boluarte was an illegitimate president on the grounds that her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was improperly ousted.
EL PAÍS English
Mercopress

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

Peru's sovereignty over Santa Rosa Island stands on solid legal ground established by century-old international treaties. The 1922 Salomon-Lozano Treaty and subsequent agreements clearly grants Peru control over this territory, which has been under its continuous administration for decades without Colombian challenge until now.

Gobierno de Perú

Narrative B

Colombia has legitimate concerns over recent Peruvian unilateral actions regarding the island, as they violate established border treaties and protocols as well as other international norms, including freedom of navigation in the Amazon River. The island must be subject to a bilateral review as it was formed after the agreements.