The Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty was signed between

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

on 24 March 1928. Under the terms of the treaty, Nicaragua recognized Colombia's sovereignty over the

Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina The Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina ( es, Archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina, ), or San Andrés and Providencia, is one of the departments of Colombia, and the only one in North America. It cons ...

. Colombia recognized Nicaragua's sovereignty over the Coast of Mosquitos. This treaty is heavily criticized by the Nicaraguan government as it was signed during the United States of America's occupation. In 2001, Nicaragua declared that they disputed the agreement and filed a formal complaint before the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, claiming maritime boundaries east of longitude 82 of Greenwich, whilst disputing sovereignty over parts of the archipelago of San Andrés. On December 13, 2007, the International Court of Justice recognized the full sovereignty of Colombia over the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, and recognized Colombian sovereignty over the cays of

Serranilla A serranilla is a genre of short poem in Spanish literature which focus on commonplace subjects, the best known authors of which were Juan Ruiz also known as the Arcipreste de Hita (''Por la ruta serrana del Arcipreste'') and Íñigo López de Mend ...

, Quitasueño, Serrana, Roncador and

Bajo Nuevo Bajo Nuevo Bank, also known as the Petrel Islands ( es, Bajo Nuevo, Islas Petrel), is a small, uninhabited reef with some small grass-covered islets, located in the western Caribbean Sea at , with a lighthouse on Low Cay at . The closest neighb ...

. The question of maritime delimitation was tenuously answered, but the Court ruled Colombia's 1969 claim that Nicaragua's maritime boundary was the 82 West Meridian was illegal.

References

Treaties of Colombia Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties concluded in 1928 Colombia–Nicaragua relations Territorial disputes of Colombia Territorial disputes of Nicaragua {{treaty-stub