Through a press release, Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva ruled on the border ruling between Colombia and Nicaragua, where the Central American country was denied to expand its territory.
“ Citizens and citizens… I am very pleased to address you and, in particular, the Raizal community, the inhabitants of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina and all the people of the Caribbean basin. Today, without a doubt, will be remembered by each one of us. The International Court of Justice has just delivered its latest sentence in the long list of decisions that make up the judicial file before this court between Colombia and Nicaragua,” the statement said.
The Minister pointed out that the decision of the international entity ratifies once and for all a dispute that had been going on for years and exalts it where he maintained that if it had been the other way around it could have affected history.
“A ruling that, with res judicata effects, has determined to reject the claims of an alleged extended continental shelf for Nicaragua to the detriment of our territory. To have achieved it would have been a terrible precedent for the entire region. And in this way it has closed, once and for all, a long dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua. Without a doubt, it is a decision that will be transcendental for maritime spaces. It will echo in other regions where tension was unnecessarily created, thus avoiding conflicts that could put global security at risk,” he stressed.
Finally, he affirmed that this determination is historic and that it will allow the country to rebuild what is already there and, in turn, protect the different economic, political and social interests and, in turn, the sovereignty of Colombia.
“On this historic day, it is necessary to point out that a space of enormous opportunities is opening up for our country. Be the occasion, without underestimating the efforts that were made on other occasions to defend the interests of Colombia, to highlight the names of Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, Carolina Olarte Bácares, Elizabeth Taylor Jay, Gabriel Cifuentes Guidini, Andrea Jiménez Herrera, Carlos Colmenares Castro, Óscar Casallas Méndez, Daniel Torres Ramírez, Nicolás González Tamayo, Raúl Simancas Gómez, Viviana Medina Cruz and Jenny Bowie Wilches. I equally welcome with gratitude Michael Reisman, Sir Michael Wood, Rodman Bundy, Jean-Marc Thouvenin, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Scott Edmonds, Lindsay Parson, Walter Roest and Peter Croker,” he concluded.