VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER-REACTION Colombia protests Venezuela fixing of maritime border

Record ID: 151919

  • Title: VENEZUELA-COLOMBIA/BORDER-REACTION Colombia protests Venezuela fixing of maritime border
  • Date: 22nd June 2015
  • Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 22, 2015) (REUTERS) COLOMBIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER MARIA ANGELA HOLGUIN WALKING TO NEWS CONFERENCE HOLGUIN WITH REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER MARIA ANGELA HOLGUIN, SAYING: "We consider that the decree goes against international law and we have asked Venezuela to make a new decree, with coordinates that correspond to the Venezue
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cuba
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2WU343Z0B7GC2MQU8R36R93P5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Colombia's Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said on Monday (June 22) she hopes to hear back from the Venezuelan government after Colombia sent a letter of protest in response to a Venezuelan government decree on maritime borders in a disputed area of the Atlantic Ocean.
    Holguin said Colombia has asked Venezuela to reconsider.
    "We consider that the decree goes against international law and have asked Venezuela to make a new decree, with coordinates that correspond to the Venezuelan areas, excluding areas in dispute and the waters, areas that belong to Colombia," Holguin said in Havana while she attended peace talks with the FARC rebels.
    "And this decision by the Venezuelan government, is a unilateral decision. The decisions go against international law, that is why we have asked. We are waiting, we are using diplomatic channels, that is why we have delivered a note of protest and hope that the Venezuelan government respond," Holguin added.
    Venezuela's Decree 1787, approved May 26, creates Operating Zones of Integral Maritime and Insular Defense, or Zodimain, and is meant to bolster Venezuela's national defense system.
    However, one of the zones includes an area in the Gulf of Venezuela which the two countries both claim.
    The Venezuelan government was not immediately available for comment.
    Caracas and Bogota have a long list of diplomatic disputes and temporarily froze trade during the administration of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
    At the beginning of June, Maduro demanded Colombia explain why Spanish ex-president Felipe Gonzalez travelled from Caracas to Bogota in a Colombian air force plane. The Colombian military said the entry of the plane had been authorized.
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