The PES frigate will measure 107.5 meters in length and 14.02 meters in width. The vessel is part of a broader contract that also includes the construction of a logistical support ship and an ocean patrol vessel, both supported by Colombia’s Ministry of Defense.

This project is expected to generate significant employment and foster domestic industrial supply chains. It aligns with the country’s reindustrialization efforts, positioning Colombia as a player in the global naval sector.

The contract-signing ceremony was attended by representatives from both Cotecmar and Damen, as well as high-ranking officials from the Colombian Navy and the Dutch ambassador to Colombia.

Among these innovations are surface and submarine systems, naval communication, electronic warfare technology, Cybels detection and sectoral response solutions, among others; this technology seeks to strengthen security and operations with embarkation on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Sponsored content submitted by Thales

According to Jerome Copin, general director of Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) for the Andean Countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia), the need to consolidate security solutions for the various means of transport that act in defense work, such as ships, frigates and submarines, naval support services, focused on training and keeping updated both security systems and crew, has been identified.  and in the management for the realization and control of all operations.

The sector today also faces another great challenge: cybersecurity. Not only are systems exposed to a leak that can release thousands of personal data, they can also have complicated results from an attack that alters vessel software or infects radars and weapons. “This can have counterproductive effects on the various operations; with the rise of technology, we have evidenced new ‘cyber warfare’ scenarios on the seas,” added Jerome Copin.

With more than 50 years of experience, Thales is present throughout the value chain of electronic equipment (radars, sonars, effectors, communications, electronic warfare, optronics), command and combat systems and services, with proven defense solutions and services designed for all operations and platforms.

CALM Luis Fernando Márquez Velosa is President of Cotecmar

Held every year, ColombiaMar is the largest naval & maritime event in Colombia, and among the top two in all of Latin America. The event is organized by The Colombian Navy, The Pan American Institute of Naval Engineering, and COTECMAR—Colombia’s government owned shipbuilding and naval engineering company. Finance Colombia will be present, but for a preview of what to expect, Finance Colombia Executive Editor Loren Moss sat down for a conversation with the President of COTECMAR, Contra Almirante (Rear Admiral) Luis Fernando Márquez Velosa, the officer in charge of the event’s organization and success.

Finance Colombia: I know that you are super busy preparing the event, but ColombiaMar is the most important event in the marine sector. After four years, the ColombiaMar event returns. How do you think the interest of the participants, be they speakers, vendors, government entities…especially considering that we have a few years of pause due to COVID, how do you find the interest of all the participants this year?

Admiral Márquez: First of all, good morning, and thank you very much for this opportunity to be able to share with you and your work team what this great fair is. ColombiaMar is a fair that has been organized by COTECMAR since the Year 2006 and this has become one of the main fairs in the naval sector in the South American region. As you mentioned, after four years it was In 2019, when we held this fair in person due to the affectation of the impact of the covid in the years 2020 & 2021. We returned to this face-to-face mode after four years, we come again with what is the ninth version of ColombiaMar.

After having been able to cope with these difficult times due to the issue of the pandemic, the restrictions that impacted not only the way of seeing the world and people’s lives, but also the part of the world economy, we have this great opportunity to meet again with all these players who are important to the shipyard industry in our country, such as all the suppliers, all the companies that revolve around the development of the shipyard industry, such as the metal components, mechanical components, furnishing components, the hardware components, the industry 4.0 that revolves around auxiliary companies in the development of the shipyard industry to be able to satisfy all those needs of the different groups of interest that they have in the region.

Colombian Navy Ocean going Patrol Vessel

In this area, well, we have great expectations because we know that at this moment it has been of great interest on the part of all the different actors, in meeting again, here in Cartagena, in Colombia we currently have confirmation of approximately 80 top-level companies, both national and international, that are going to participate in the event. We hope to have more than 4,000 people in attendance, among visitors from all sectors, from the industries, from the academic part.

Approximately 15 navies are invited, which are already confirmed. Right now, they come from Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador, Italy, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Germany, the Dominican Republic, among all those who have been invited and obviously as you know, well not only it is the issue of the attractiveness as such of a maritime fair to be able to strengthen ties and relationships from the commercial and development point of view.

Simultaneously with the ColombiaMar fair will be the Eighth International Congress of Naval Design and Engineering, which is an exercise of an academic type that has always been carried out outside of ColombiaMar; precisely because due to the nature of COTECMAR, which is a science and technology corporation and everything it has to do with the academic side, for us it is fundamental. In this academic field, three specific themes will be discussed in the development of the Congress, which are:

One, all of which are the world trends, applied to ship designs as the world evolves, the part evolves. from what engineering has to do, since new developments and new projects are being generated in what has to do with the part of the trends to the part that are the ships of both the military part, as well as the commercial or maritime part for international trade.

The other topic is everything that the technological organizations that we manage are in terms of sustainability applied to the naval industry, in for example, the energy transition: everything that has to be focused on around protecting the environment, which is something that today is in vogue worldwide and also in this industry.

And finally, everything that has to do with opportunities and bets on competitiveness: what the shipyard industry has to do, through what naval industries 4.0 are, everything around the technological developments to manage the highly complex productive processes and that from the point of view of the shipyard industry, from the point of view of quality, automation and industry 4.0 products.

Colombian Navy Surface Warfare Frigate

We see that there is great enthusiasm for the entire maritime and naval sector of our country and the region. The high interest, as I was telling you, in the number of invited countries, companies, from different countries, America, Europe, Asia that are going to accompany us at this fair and always looking at the development of the industry, what is current around shipbuilding, developments in repairs and maintenance that are carried out on boats for integral solutions. That is what I can tell you at this moment, as such, of what that expectation we have is and how we managed to capture the attention of all the participants in this event.

 Finance Colombia: This topic of evolution seems very interesting and very impressive to me, as we have seen this last week, a supposed balloon of I don’t know what purpose, that is not defined entering Colombian airspace, but we have seen some changes in the international political environment. And Colombia, for example, in recent decades has focused on issues such as interdiction, on issues such as insurgencies and domestic challenges.

But Colombia is in the process of modernizing its armed forces and this balloon exposed  the security challenges, the challenges of intelligence issues, defense, are evolving, they are changing. Now that we can see in conflicts high tech things like drones, aquatic drones, we’re talking about stealth technology and things like that are now being used. So how do these processes manifest? Like in Colombia, which is already in the process of modernizing its armed forces to face the challenges of the future. And so, my question is then, what is the role of ColombiaMar and of events like these to demonstrate the technologies, to share knowledge with countries, with partners, with colleagues, countries that are allies of the companies that are suppliers. What is the role of an event like this in the modernization of the armed forces?

Admiral Marquez: It is necessary to start initially from the role that COTECMAR plays for the part of the Colombian Navy and for the country. As you know, , COTECMAR always focuses its main effort on the development and innovation of products that meet the needs of the Colombian Navy to fulfill its mission. But it still produces items with dual-use technologies to satisfy the needs of both the military, and the civilian sector, and in the same way focus on satisfaction of the needs of the Colombian people.

In this order of ideas, within those roles that we fulfill, from the point of view of the shipyard industry, for construction, repair and maintenance. Initially with companies at the national level, generating productive resources for their development and strengthening, but if we look at the external sector where we rely on some technological allies, speaking of countries that have greater experience, greater capabilities from a development and technological point of view to be able to achieve synergies with them that allow us to develop the products that are initially required by the Colombian Navy.

That for what purpose? First, right now from the point of view of the articulation at the level of what the Colombian Navy does with the different countries of the region, that allows it from the point of view of protecting the patrimony of the Colombians, which is the main thing, the main task carried out by the Colombian Navy.

And second, to generate synergies with the other navies in the region and in the world to be able to face the different, let’s say, transnational threats that affect security or that threaten the interests of our country. There are few who will know, everything that has to do with drug trafficking, human trafficking, what smuggling is, the illegal fishing or the challenge that we sometimes have with respect to protect our natural resources.

So it is what allows us, from the point of view of the corporation to contribute to the Colombian Navy, and the different state entities, what this development focused on the shipyard industry has to do with. These scenarios such as ColombiaMar are of great importance, which allows us to strengthen this relationship with all these allies, both from the private sector, homeland companies, international companies seeking to search and present solutions that meet those needs.

We have an example of this, if you remember last year, in recent years, which was one of the emblematic projects currently of the corporation in Codesarrollo, which was the ARC Simon Bolivar Marine Scientific Research vessel, the General Maritime Directorate, which was a ship, since it was co-developed by COTECMAR with a technological ally, seeking to adjust to the needs of the Maritime Directorate to have a ship with capacities for investigation of everything that has to do with our marine areas in the Pacific and the Colombian Caribbean, for research, for the protection of natural resources. It is a ship that has the capacity to go to Antarctica at this time, which was part of what the Maritime Directorate is also looking for.

The ARC Simón Bolivar

If you don’t know, recently, last year, in November, a contract was signed with the Navy, for the construction of three platforms. Among these are an ocean going patrol boat, a Colombian ocean patrol boat designed entirely within Colombia by the shipyard with an interdisciplinary team of naval engineering design and that we are going to build for the Colombian Navy.

Starting this year, 2023, we will also continue with the project for the construction of the first frigate in Colombia. It is a project that is currently being co-developed with a technological ally to achieve that basic design for the ship that the National Navy requires to fulfill its constitutional role, as the protection of the aforementioned Colombian maritime patrimony.

A logistical support ship is also being contemplated to satisfy the logistics needs of the Navy but in the same way it is a multi-mission ship that is also intended to provide support when required to the Colombian people in everything from situations in insular areas, or areas far from the national borders, which at some point might require, due to some special situation, support from the military forces, in this case the Colombian Navy.

I concatenate all this, with the work that we have been encouraging these 23 years by COTECMAR and where we use this platform such as ColombiaMar to be able to strengthen those relationship ties with all our allies in the commercial area and show the region, the world, to the different sectors, both the public sector of the country and the variety of the region. We have the products with high added value that the corporation already develops and builds.

A logistical support ship is also being contemplated to satisfy the logistics needs of the Colombian Navy.

Finance Colombia”: Interesting, you have been very kind, generous with your time. The last question is that for the attendees of the last events of the previous years, what would be the changes or expansions that you would like to highlight for the event this year and how many exhibitors, speakers and attendees do you hope to have there in Cartagena this year?

Admiral Marquez: Regarding that, initially I can tell you that what we hope to be able to show the industry, the different countries that are going to accompany us and the academic part is, first of all, what has been the development and evolution of the capacities that have generated by COTECMAR with different products and technological innovations.

We are going to have in the development of ColombiaMar extended reality, virtual reality, how it has contributed to us from the point of view of productive processes and avoid setbacks in the field of shipbuilding and design. And likewise, in ship repair it is a tool that has multiple uses that benefit the industry. An example of this, extended reality, has currently allowed us by the IMO (International Maritime Organization), there is an instruction that by 2025 old-fashioned ships that did not have a ballast water treatment system that goes into the bilge and that [dirty water] was thrown into the sea. In certain place, they generated a great risk for migratory species because they dumped water, and also polluted.

So there is a BWTS system, which is a treatment system for these ballast waters that was being installed in some countries in Europe. And the corporation appropriated that work, that development and achieved with this extended reality and reality. Firstly, one can virtually achieve that any ship that wishes to implement it can do a 3D survey in the specific areas according to how they have distributed their engine rooms, to be able to design and propose the installation of the system so that they can comply with this requirement. It is one of the tools that we are going to show in the framework of ColombiaMar.

In the same way, it is a tool that serves the training process that we have also used and taken advantage of, as an example when developing some of the products, such as the cod boats, so that by doing the simulation in this tool, the crews can train when required. It will also allow us to show the different projects that we developed, advancing as the theme of the same marine scientific research ship where the part is the electronic model or of the other ships, such as the oceanic patrol boat that we are going to build and the frigate too, so that they have the perspective with the use of the tool, how these projects are approached and have that experience.

On the other hand, what we are also looking for and that has been working, not now, but since 2019, when the strategic direction of the four-year period by the corporation was projected, within one of its axes or the lines of action, which was part of the development of dual-use technologies for the benefit of improving the quality of life of Colombians, social development.

This is a topic that we saw working, we have also evolved with new designs that are available to satisfy all these needs at the country level, but also at the regional level, that we have different types of vessels for integral action in the fluvial zone. Medical ambulatory transport boats, educational platforms, that we want to show and take advantage of from the point of view as a strategy that the corporation manages, to contribute to the development of the country and to all the Colombian people.

These different, let’s say, solution alternatives are going to contribute to the solution of some of the problems that exist at a social level throughout Latin America. So this is going to be a great opportunity to also be able to show these dual-use technologies as a bet from the point of view of everything that is the promotion of innovation, development in what it has to do with respect to the technological shipyard industry of our country, linked to the part that is the internal productive confrontations of the country with the companies, but it also forms what has to do with employment generation and development for the country.

Finally we have everything that has to do with a project that is quite interesting for us and that we want to make known as the Cotec Energy Boat project, it is a boat that has been in development for some time, since last year by the corporation, which is a prototype of a USV vehicle, an unmanned electric surface vessel, that is, a bet on everything that has to do with this energy transition project, that is sought through new and innovative products worldwide and obviously at the country level. It is a design, let’s say, on a small scale that allows us, with a remote control system from the shore, to demonstrate how it is viable to implement this type of technology, taking advantage of solar energy, solar panels or with the electrical energy, an electric motor that can be used remotely, let’s say, to show what progress has been made in the development of this type of product focused on the energy transition and the new technologies that are currently being advanced worldwide.

This is work that is being carried out jointly not only with COTECMAR, but also with a technological ally here in the country, the company Automotech SAC, which is going to present itself as a dual-use platform that may also be of interest to some entities of the Colombian state or some of the marinas in the region. So let’s say that as the three vertices that we currently have focused on correspond to what we want to highlight in the changes and new advances that the corporation has in this ColombiaMar 2023.

Finance Colombia: It is very impressive. It is very exciting to see that they are highlighting issues from the technological to the social here in Colombia because that has obviously been a very important issue in the country. So, Admiral, thank you very much for your time. And I hope to see you and your colleagues at the event for sure, we already have our reservations there in Cartagena and I hope to see you and also our readers there.

Admiral Marquez: Thank you very much, it will be a pleasure to have your company and your team join us at this great event that marks a milestone in what the shipyard industry has to develop in our country and that COTECMAR has been leading for 23 years. We know that this new fair in ColombiaMar and the International Congress of Naval Engineering will be a total success, because we have a fairly big commitment and we believe in what the country has been developing, in terms of this industrial development that we need and obviously looking for a Integral development for the industry, but always for the benefit of the Colombian people and the needs of our Colombian military. Thank you very much for your time and this great opportunity that you offered us today.

During inspections, the navy found shark specimens, so escorted the vessel to Bahia Solano for further inspection. Once on the dock, and in coordination with officials from the Regional Autonomous Corporation for the Sustainable Development of Chocó – Codechocó, a bag with 89 fins and 114 shark specimens was found, whose total weight was 904 kilograms. The crew was handed over to authorities for investigation and probable charges.

In accordance with the provisions of Colombian Decree 281 of 2021, which establishes measures for the protection and conservation of sharks, marine rays and chimeras of Colombia, these species represent an ecological importance for the maintenance of the health of the seas and oceans. of the national territory, for which its fishing and commercialization is prohibited both at an industrial and artisanal level.

Photo courtesy of the Colombian Navy

One person was captured with the total of 1,216 kilograms of ore, that according to the Colombian prosecutor’s office may be worth as much as 453,000 USD. Coltan is an ore containing rare-earth metals like tantalum and niobium, useful in the manufacture of electronics and metal alloys.

There are legitimate mining operations of rare earth metals in Vichada, such as the recent activity by Auxico Resources, though the mining of Coltan illegally by armed insurgents is a troubling sign of new diversification into areas that put at risk the local indigenous populations, the environment, and the freedom of these remote areas from organized violence. As has been experienced in Colombia’s gold producing areas, illicit actors can put legitimate operations at risk.

The Certified Ethical Hacker is one of the most respected certification programs globally and is recognized by the US Department of Defense, Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, as well as the British GCHQ, ANSI and other international organizations.

The certification curriculum provides a trusted platform for participants to demonstrate their proficiency in ethical hacking, including real-world practices and exercises that have been designed to create the ideal “Red Team” professional.

The Certified Ethical Hacking – CEH V11 credential issued by ETEK teaches aspiring students and practicing professionals how to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, while the CEH Practice is a test of application of the concepts learned. Those candidates who have obtained the CEH credential and can demonstrate their mastery through the CEH practical exam obtain the special CEH Master designation.

Current methods and practices

The Certified Ethical Hacker – CEH V11 program incorporates a library with the latest cybersecurity tools, including container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), as well as cloud threats and hacking tools for the Internet of Things (IoT) such as Shikra, Bus Pirate, Facedancer21 and others.

The program includes new operating systems such as Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 configured with domain controllers, firewalls and vulnerable web applications that serve to practice and improve hacking skills.

Registration

ETEK’s online training sessions on Certified Ethical Hacker – CEH V11 will be held beginning in March 2021 with flexible schedules between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Registration is open via telephone at +57 (1) 257-1520 extensions 4701 and 4708, via mobile phone +57 (304) 339-0181 and +57 (317) 893-3479 or by email: arey@etek.com and jmesa@etek.com.

The incident took place on the Meta River in the remote southeastern Colombian department of Vichada where the river forms a border with Venezuela where the Colombian navy says the river current carried the boats away. The Evinrude equipped, US made Boston Whalers were equipped with 30 & 50 caliber machine guns. Boston Whaler is a respected manufacturer of small utility and fishing boats that are commercially available but adaptable for military and law-enforcement use.

“It is up to the President of Colombia to request the return of this military equipment to me. And if he did, it would be returned immediately,” said Nicolás Maduro, strongman of neighboring Venezuela, insisting that the Colombian president had to personally and publicly ask for the return of the boats in order to get them back.

The Colombian government generally uses such riparian vessels in anti-insurgency and drug interdiction efforts, as well as border patrol activities. Certain areas of the Venezuelan border are active areas in smuggling, human trafficking, and criminal activities including by militant groups such as the ELN.

This incident comes less than a week after apparent Canadian & American adventurers along with a team of Venezuelan exiles were captured in an apparent fantasy-induced attempt to land in Venezuela and capture Maduro, who has a $15 million US government bounty on his head. The adventurers launched their failed attempt from Colombia, embarrassing the Colombian government and prompting both Colombian President Ivan Duque and the US government to deny involvement.

The Colombian navy issued a statement confirming the loss of the boats.

According to the facts subject to investigation, three boats of the Colombian Navy that were in a fluvial control post moored on the banks of the Meta River in the department of Vichada on the Colombia Venezuela border, were unmanned and swept away at dawn today.

According to the preliminary version, this occurred when the sentry in charge of the boats’ security realized that due to the effects of the strong current, the boats were carried away by the river precluding any opportunity for recovery.

Units of the Eastern Force of the Colombian Navy were ordered to recover the boats, but given the proximity to Venezuela, the boats were carried by the river into Venezuelan territory, preventing the Colombian units from searching and rescuing them.

Taking into account the foregoing, the Eastern Naval Force proceeded to establish communications with the Venezuelan Naval post in Puerto Páez in order to ascertain the situation and coordinate the recovery of the boats; they expressed their support, informing they would locate and deliver the boats.

The Wayúu is a Native American ethnic group that has inhabited the La Guajira peninsula since precolombian times. Though their culture is intact and they have successfully retained their homeland, the region has been hard hit by droughts and food shortages, exacerbated by the influx of refugees from neighboring Venezuela. The region also suffers from organized crime and local government corruption, due in part to its location on Colombia’s border with Venezuela.

“To the extent that we can take care of everybody that needs help, that’s what we’re trying to do.” 

Chevron operates gas fields in the region and has a strong, collaborative relationship with the Wayúu community. Finance Colombia executive editor Loren Moss was able to speak with Chevron’s President for Colombia Marc Payne (above) about the new Food Bank and Chevron’s relationship with the Wayúu People.

Finance Colombia: The “Banco de Alimentos de la Guajira,” how long has it been in existence?

Marc Payne: It’s new. We just recently launched it. It took time to align all of our supply partners, all of our distribution partners and all of our constituents, so it is very new, and in fact next Friday we will be going to La Guajira to have our official launch. So, it’s going to be improving and improving and improving, and we’re very proud of what it’s accomplished so far.

Finance Colombia: How big of a population is it designed to serve?

Marc Payne: It depends. It’s scalable, and the more partners we can bring in, the more distributors that we can bring in, the larger it can be. So we will start relatively small, but it is the biggest food bank in La Guajira and we recognize that there is a big need for development, and we also recognize that there is a lot of migration from other places that are coming in.

Finance Colombia: That’s interesting because obviously we have people here from the Wayúu community and that’s a situation that we’ve known about, but then that situation is exacerbated, right? Because of its proximity to neighboring countries.

Marc Payne: Yes.

Finance Colombia: And that situation, I imagine there is more of a need, and that it has to be taxing the already streched local resources there.

Marc Payne: It does, but the situation in Venezuela is very difficult, and the people are really suffering. So to the extent that we can take care of everybody that needs help, that’s what we’re trying to do. So yes it’s a strain on the resources but people need help and we’re going to try to provide it to them.

Finance Colombia: Chevron has taken a leadership role in this; you’re doing this in collaboration with the Diocesis of Riohacha in La Guajira, right?

Marc Payne: Yes. We have many, many partners. So the Diocesis  of Riohacha is one of our key partners; we’ve partnered with before on the construction of local schools. We’ve worked for a long time with certain organizations in La Guajira, that’s our general strategy, to build long term partnerships that we can then build scale and make a bigger impact in the department.

Finance Colombia: It’s interesting, because in Colombia a lot of areas get a lot of attention, and that’s one area that has not gotten a lot of attention. Chevron I know, has a presence in the area and I’ve seen the need, and you have taken a step up. How have you been received by the local community in the Guajira area?

Marc Payne: Chevron has been present in La Guajira for forty years. And one of the global directives that we have is that we always look at local communities and we always identify the needs of local communities. It’s almost always directed towards education, healthcare, culture and economic development.

That’s exactly what we’ve done in La Guajira and our gas facilities actually sit right in the middle of Wayuu lands. We have outstanding relationships with the local community, and in fact they assist us with our security situation. For example, when we work with the Colombian navy and the national police, they tell us that their best source of information to protect us is actually the Wayuu people.

Finance Colombia: Wow, that’s impressive, that’s impressive, great to know.

“This is a total victory for Nicaragua,” said ambassador Carlos Arguello, Nicaragua’s agent before the court. According to Arguello, the effect of the court’s decision is to underscore that “its judgments must be complied with — period.”

After the ruling, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos flew immediately to Colombia’s San Andres archipelago in the Caribbean where he laid out the government’s official position. “Colombians can be sure that, all united, we are going to continue defending to the last centimeter our territory,” said Santos. “For that I have called on the formation of a united front, firm, uncrushable to protect our interests in our Caribbean Sea.”

The government’s position was immediately endorsed by the administration’s chief critic, former President Alvaro Uribe, via Twitter.

On his visit to San Andres, Santos was accompanied by Foreign Relations Minister Maria Ángela Holguín, Minister of Defense Luis Carlos Villegas, and Minister of the Presidency Maria Lorena Gutiérrez.

Legal Ramifications

Nicaragua was represented in both cases by partners Paul Reichler and Lawrence Martin of Foley Hoag LLP, as well as professors Alain Pellet of France; Vaughan Lowe of the U.K.; Antonio Remiro of Spain; and Alex Oude Elferink of the Netherlands. Reichler hailed the court’s decision, saying that it facilitates judicial resolution of disputes over maritime entitlements in the extended continental shelf, and that it brings the court into conformity with other tribunals, especially the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg. “The ICJ now joins ITLOS and arbitral tribunals in enabling expeditious judicial resolution of continental shelf boundary disputes, instead of subjecting them to interminable and arcane procedural obstacles,” Reichler said.

“The court’s rejection of Colombia’s jurisdictional defenses clears the way for Nicaragua to vindicate and expand its rights to the waters and seabed of the Western Caribbean Sea, including oil and gas resources,” said Reichler, the Chair of Foley Hoag’s international litigation and arbitration practice.

In the first of the two decisions, the court found that it had jurisdiction to consider Nicaragua’s claims that Colombia had violated its rights under a 2012 judgment unanimously awarding Nicaragua vast amounts of sea and seabed that Colombia had also claimed. The court will now hear and decide whether Colombia has violated the terms of that judgment, as Nicaragua has alleged.

In the second case, the court determined that it would consider Nicaragua’s claim to an extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its Caribbean coast, a claim that the court declined to consider in 2012. The court explained that, in the interim, Nicaragua had complied with certain obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which had not been fulfilled at the time of the prior case.

140 miles east of Nicaragua and 470 miles north of Colombia in the Caribbean, San Andres is a tourist destination rivaling Cartagena in Popularity. its territorial waters are rich with aquatic fauna & potential petroleum reserves. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Complex history

San Andres has had an English speaking population with a Caribbean culture since 1630 when Puritan pilgrims from England arrived with captive African slaves. The Spanish military took control of the island  to put an end to the privateering raids on their ships taking place from the island, and held it until it was taken over by the famous English pirate, Captain Morgan in 1670. He and other pirates ran the island until 1689 when Spain regained control, and held the islands except for a brief period from 1820-1821.

During that interlude, French privateer Louis Michel Aury landed in San Andres and used it as a base from which to attack and “liberate” Central America. Aury apparently wanted to join forces with Simon Bolivar, fighting for independence from Spain in Gran Colombia, but apparently, Bolivar never responded to his overtures. Aury died in the islands in 1821.

Upon the fall of Spain’s colonies and the rise of Gran Colombia (now Colombia, Venezuela & Ecuador), administrative control of San Andres went to Colombia. Nicaragua protested Colombia’s control, but in 1928 signed a treaty recognizing Colombia’s sovereignty over the islands.

The United States also laid claim to some of the islands, and invited the Raizal residents to secede during the United State’s dispute with Colombia over the Panama Canal project, leading to the secession and independence of Panamá from Colombia in 1903. The United States ceded claims to Serrana and Roncador Bank to Colombia in 1981, though still claims jurisdiction over Bajo Nuevo and Serranilla Bank, as do Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and Colombia.

In 2001 Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista government rejected the validity of the treaty, claiming it was signed under duress from the United States. In 2007, the ICJ ruled that the islands did belong to Colombia, but did not rule on maritime boundaries, which is the current matter of dispute before the court.

The descendants of the slaves that originally landed on the island are known as Raizales, and maintain a distinct, Caribbean-influenced culture. Many still speak English, and the population is largely Protestant.

Uncertain future

President Santos during his visit stated that Colombia will not permit third parties to intervene in the disputes Colombia has with other countries, and since the court’s ruling, Colombia simply will no longer participate in the court’s proceedings, saying the rulings “were a confirmation that this court is not what is best for Colombia.” Said Santos, “We will not keep appearing,” in reference to the ICJ.

Santos also met with the Raizales community, and assured them that their interests would be put first. “The inhabitants of the archipelago will have a clear forceful participation in any future negotiations we have, to defend their interests and the interests of the archipelago in a treaty with any other country, but especially with Nicaragua. Fishing rights and maritime territory use must also be established,” said the president.

Colombian Guided Missile Frigate Caldas

While Santos said Colombia will no longer recognize the ICJ, the administration is willing to negotiate directly with Nicaragua.  It is not clear what other options Nicaragua may have, as the ICJ has no real enforcement mechanism of its own. Nicaragua has no deepwater navy, while Colombia has considerable fleets of guided missile frigates and submarines in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Nicaragua’s Sandinista government is close allies with Cuba and Venezuela, while Colombia has a close military cooperation pact with the United States.  While this imbalance makes for a strong negotiating position, it is unlikely that matters would escalate into a hot conflict, because of the military power imbalance and unpredictable diplomatic externalities.