Colombia’s foreign minister announced Tuesday that Colombia will be opening dialogue with Nicaragua after the “failure” of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that granted a large chunk of Colombian maritime territory to Nicaragua.
Monday’s court ruling over disputed territory of the San Andres archipelagos and its waters has become a contentious matter for Colombia, with Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin stating that Colombia would surely open dialogue with Nicaragua officials as a result of the territorial change, reported Caracol Radio.
Holguin told media that “we hope to have good relationship with the Government of Nicaragua…there are issues that we must work on, fishery issues, security, the fight against drug trafficking, it is very likely we will have a meeting.”
Although Colombia maintained its sovereignty over the island of San Andres islands and the surrounding archipelago, the South American country lost a large chunk of the surrounding waters to Nicaragua.
According to CM& news, around 700 of the islands’ 70,000 inhabitants depend on small-scale fishing for a living. Approximately 4% of the island department’s economy is based on fishing, with most of its economy dependent on tourism to San Andres.