SOLOMON-LOZANO TREATY: CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Salomón-Lozano Treaty was an agreement signed by Colombia and Peru in order to solve the border problems between both nations. The signing took place on March 24, 1922 and was intended to resolve a dispute over territorial limits that went back to colonial times.

Tensions between Colombia and Peru had been constant since both countries declared their independence. For a century, there had been armed clashes, especially between Putumayo and Caquetá. To further complicate the problem, there was a third country involved in the disputes over the territories: Ecuador.

Borders between Colombia and Peru - Source: Shadowxfox under the Creative Commons Generic Attribution / Share-Alike 3.0 license

Colombia and Peru had already tried to resolve the dispute on other occasions. Over the years, they had signed other agreements, such as the Pardo-Tanco Argáez or the Porras-Tanco Argáez. However, various circumstances had prevented them from being final. Thus, 1922 was reached, when both governments signed the Salomon-Lozano.

Like the previous ones, this last Treaty also failed to resolve the situation. An apparently minor incident, which occurred in Leticia, was about to provoke an open war between the two countries. Only the death of the Peruvian president prevented the conflict.

Background

The problem of the border limits between Colombia and Peru dates back to the same colonial era.

At first, the Spanish included those territories under the Viceroyalty of Peru, but later they decided to separate a part and create the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

Within the domains of the new Viceroyalty, the territory of Maynas remained, in the Amazon jungle. That area would be the one that would eventually become the reason for the dispute between Peruvians and Colombians.

In 1802, the Spanish decided that Maynas would return to the Viceroyalty of Peru. However, no one knows for sure the nature of that order or, if it even came to be obeyed.

The key to the conflict is found in the principle of Uti possidetis. According to this, the nascent independent republics had to preserve the borders they had in 1810, when the independence revolution began.

During the rest of the 19th century, the clashes between the two countries were constant. Sometimes simply through diplomatic channels. Others, through arms, as in the Grancolombo-Peruvian war of 1828.

Twentieth century

At the beginning of the 20th century, Colombia took the initiative to negotiate stable borders with Peru and Ecuador.

The first attempt dates from May 6, 1904, when Peruvians and Colombians signed the Pardo-Tanco Treaty. This agreement submitted the border question to arbitration by the King of Spain. However, the Colombian government backed down at the last minute.

Peru, however, insisted on negotiations. He sent a delegation to Colombia and managed to sign the Velarde-Calderón-Tanco Treaties on September 12, 1905. On this occasion, arbitration was granted to the Pope.

While waiting for the final approval, delayed by Peru, both countries signed a Modus Vivendis. This consisted of the withdrawal of all the garrisons, customs and civil authorities from the Putumayo area.

Finally, at the end of 1907, Colombia withdrew from the Modus Vivendis of 1906 and announced that it would take over Putumayo again. The result was a series of armed clashes between Colombian and Peruvian troops.

Despite all this, in 1909, the two countries again signed a new treaty, the Porras-Tanco Argáez. In this, the two nations agreed to go to arbitration. The La Pedrera conflict ruined this last attempt.

La Pedrera conflict

In 1911, Colombia deployed some military garrisons on the right bank of the Caquetá River. To achieve this, he sent a detachment to occupy Puerto Córdova, also called La Pedrera.

To prevent an open conflict from breaking out, talks were held in Bogotá. As a result of these, Peru and Colombia signed, on July 19, 1911, the Tezanos Pinto-Olaya Herrera agreement. According to the agreement, the garrisons were only to be provisional, without implying anything in terms of sovereignty.

characteristics

Despite the agreement regarding La Pedrera, the incident caused tension between the two countries to grow. Violent incidents occurred against the Peruvian embassy in Bogotá and the press criticized the government's attitude.

Between 1912 and 1918, the two countries insisted on seeking an agreement that would forever solve the problem. Colombia proposed submitting to the Pope's arbitration, while Peru proposed the Hague Tribunal as arbitrator.

The deal

Finally, on March 24, 1922, the two countries managed to reach an agreement. The Salomón-Lozano Treaty was signed in Lima and, shortly after, ratified by the respective Congresses.

The authors of the Treaty, from which it receives its name, were Fabio Lozano Torrijos, representing Colombia, and Alberto Salomón, sent by Peru.

Although there was no arbitration, the pressure of a third country was fundamental: the United States. His pressure was decisive for the Peruvian president, Augusto Leguía, to send the document, very unpopular in his country, to the parliament in December 1927.

Territorial distribution

The Treaty established the borders that would delimit both countries, also affecting Ecuador. Its 1st article states that:

«The border line between the Peruvian Republic and the Republic of Colombia is agreed, agreed and fixed in the following terms: From the point where the meridian of the mouth of the Cuhimbe River in the Putumayo crosses the San Miguel River or Sucumbíos, go up that same meridian to said mouth of the Cuhimbe.

From there through the Putumayo River to the confluence of the Yaguas River; It follows a straight line that from this confluence goes to the Atacuari River in the Amazon and from there along the Amazon River to the limit between Peru and Brazil established in the Peru-Brazilian Treaty of October 23, 1851.

Colombia declares that Peru owns the territories between the right bank of the Putumayo River, to the east of the mouth of the Cuhimbe, and the line established and marked as the border between Colombia and Ecuador in the Putumayo and Napo valleys, in by virtue of the Boundary Treaty between the two Republics, on July 15, 1916 "

Ratifications

The Peruvian Congress ratified the Treaty on December 20, 1927, and the Colombian Congress did the same on March 17, 1928. The physical handover of the territories took place on August 17, 1930.

Consequences

In Peru, the Treaty was considered by many sectors as excessively surrendering. However, some historians affirm that Leguía, president at that time, was looking for an ally to face the conflicts that the country had with Ecuador and Chile.

In this sense, the result of the signing of the Treaty was positive for Peru, since Colombia supported it in the Peruvian-Ecuadorian litigation.

Colombian-Peruvian war

An apparently minor incident was on the verge of provoking a war between Colombia and Peru. On September 1, 1932, a group of Peruvian citizens from Loreto stormed Leticia (which had remained in Colombian hands, conquered it and claimed their sovereignty for Peru.

Colombia defined it as a domestic incident, but Peru, under the presidency of Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro, ended up giving support to the Peruvian citizens who had occupied Leticia.

In this way, the tension began to grow, although without reaching open warfare. This could have come when Colombia broke relations with Peru on February 15, 1933. During the following weeks, armed confrontations were repeated in several other border areas.

Peru mobilized the troops to send them to the border. However, just after Sánchez Cerro greeted that contingent before they left for their destination, an APRA militant killed him with several shots.

His successor, Óscar Benavides, halted preparations for war and met with the Colombian president, with whom he maintained good relations. On May 25, at the silk of the League of Nations, both countries signed an armistice, avoiding total war.

Rio de Janeiro Protocol

The commission to resolve the dispute over Leticia met in Rio de Janeiro in October 1933. Peru also extended an invitation to Ecuador to try to negotiate the borders between the two countries, but received a refusal from the Ecuadorian side.

The result of the talks in Brazil resulted in the so-called Protocol of Rio de Janeiro, signed on May 24, 1934. This agreement ratified the Salomón-Lozano Treaty, which, to this day, continues in force.

References

1. Wikisource. Salomón-Lozano Treaty. Retrieved from es.wikisource.org
2. National Museum. Peace on the border, 1934. Recovered from museonacional.gov.co
3. History of Peru. Border between Peru and Colombia. Obtained from historiaperuana.pe
4. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Salomón-Lozano Treaty (1922). Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
5. Revolvy. Salomón – Lozano Treaty. Retrieved from revolvy.com
6. Omniatlas. South America 1922: Salomón – Lozano Treaty. Retrieved from omniatlas.com
7. St. John, Robert Bruce. The Ecuador-Peru Boundary Dispute: The Road to Settlement. Recovered from books.google.es