The Protocol of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation and Additional Act Between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Peru, also known simply as the Rio Protocol, was an international agreement signed in Rio de Janeiro between Colombia and Peru on May 24, 1934.
The Protocol was intended to finally resolve the long-running territorial dispute between the two countries, and brought about the official end of the Colombia–Peru War.
Background
The dispute between Colombia and Peru over the sovereignty of the Amazon basin dates back to the aftermath of the wars of independence. Gran Colombia fought a war with Peru over a border dispute in the area of Tumbes, Jaén and Maynas. The Treaty of Guayaquil put an end to the military campaign but problems arose due to the subsequent dissolution of Gran Colombia, among them the continuity of the border issue.
Direct and continuous negotiations between Colombia and Peru only began in 1894. Until then, the discussion only concerned the latter and Ecuador. That year, tripartite negotiations began, which did not produce results. The areas in dispute between Colombia and Peru were mainly the Caquetá and Putumayo basins. The colonization attempts of both countries led to armed clashes, most notably that of La Pedrera in 1911. The two countries tried arbitration, without reaching an agreement on who would fulfill that role.
Salomón–Lozano Treaty
Once the negotiations were restarted, on March 24, 1922, a direct agreement was reached in Lima, the work of the plenipotentiaries Fabio Lozano Torrijos (representing Colombia) and Alberto Salomón Osorio (representing Peru). The Putumayo River was designated as the limit, except in a strip known as the Amazonian trapeze, under the sovereignty of Colombia.
Colombia–Peru War
On September 1, 1932, a group of 48 Peruvian citizens from Loreto stormed the small town of Leticia to claim it as Peruvian, expelling the Colombian authorities and sending them to Brazil. This act, initially considered a domestic problem, was the one that gave rise to the Colombian–Peruvian war. The clashes took place along the Putumayo River and the Amazon trapeze, recalling clashes such as the Battle of Tarapacá on February 14 and the Battle of Güepí on March 26, 1933, already on May 23, 1933, the diplomatic agreement ending the military actions was signed in Geneva. The Peruvian army vacated Leticia a month later just as the Colombian army returned Güepí to Peru.
Negotiations (1933–1934)
First stage
On October 24, 1933, the commission destined to settle the dispute met, which was installed by the Brazilian Foreign Minister Afrânio de Melo Franco. The Peruvian part was made up of Víctor Maúrtua, Víctor Andrés Belaúnde, Alberto Ulloa Sotomayor and Raúl Porras Barrenechea. The Colombian delegation, by Roberto Urdaneta Arbeláez, Luis Cano Villegas and Guillermo Valencia Castillo.
On October 31, the second meeting between the Peruvian and Colombian delegations took place. In it, the method to be adopted in the negotiations was discussed, since the Colombian representation maintained that it was up to the Peruvian to present what it considered to be pending problems in order to study possible solutions. On the contrary, the Peruvian commission stated that both parties should present memorandums expressing their points of view. The heads of both representations were appointed to seek a solution, in addition to agreeing on a series of informative communications, until another procedure was necessary to record the points of agreement and divergence. In the heads' talks, it was agreed to adopt a common agenda, for which the two delegations would present memorandums. However, given the irreconcilable differences between the two notes, it was decided to dispense with them.
Both parties would meet again on November 28 and December 1, 4 and 18. In the sessions, the Peruvian delegation spoke of Colombia's noncompliance with the Salomón-Lozano treaty, by not delivering the Sucumbíos Triangle to Peru (which had been ceded in exchange for the Leticia trapeze); the impracticability of the treaty; and the economic, geographical and historical inconveniences of the line drawn by the 1922 treaty. Finally, the Peruvian side concluded that the only possible solution was to change the border, with the luck that the triangle would return to Colombia and the trapeze to Peru.