Melissa’s Soapbox

The Approach to Isla Providencia

On the trip northbound, we stopped for a day at Isla Providencia located in the southwest Caribbean about 450 miles north of Cartagena and 140 miles east of Nicaragua. The island is only about 5 miles long and 3 miles wide, but some hills reach 1000 feet high in the mostly volcanic rock terrain. Additionally, Isla Providencia boasts Colombia’s largest barrier reef which is 12 miles long and 660 yards wide, and apparently has excellent scuba diving. This reef, along with shoals and sandbanks, makes the approach into Catalina Harbor a little tricky, but the crystal clear water is undescribably beautiful.

Isla Providencia, and its sister island, San Andres, are technically Colombia although closer in proximity to, and once a part of, Nicaragua. The guy at the Bocas del Toro Yacht Club and Marina diesel dock said that the U.S. gave Providencia to Colombia to compensate for its loss of the Panamian Isthmus. This conspiracy theory falls short since the isthmus seceded from Colombia in a peaceful revolution (albeit with the American government’s approval and the help of wealthy private citizens with a stake in the canal) after years of mismanagement and lack of cooperation with canal construction. The truth is that Providencia’s history is far more colorful than that Bocas guy’s local legends.

Isla Providencia was likely discovered by Columbus on the original 1492 voyage. In 1670, the infamous Caribbean pirate (or privateer depending on your perspective), Sir Henry Morgan took over Providencia until 1683 when he was ousted from the Jamaican Council thus beginning his considerable demise into obesity and alcoholism and tarnished reputation. From then, Providencia changed hands many times to include the Veraguas Province of Panama, until the occupation by Colombia in 1822, a highly protested action by the United Provinces of Central America which dissolved in Civil War in 1838.

In 1928, a treaty with Nicaragua settled the dispute in favor of Colombia. The treaty was declared void by the Sandinista government in 1980 claiming that at the time, intense American pressure and illegal intervention forced the compliance of the Nicaraguan leadership. In 2001, Nicaragua filed claims with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed Isla Providencia and San Andres as well as a maritime boundary involving 50,000 km² in the Caribbean. Colombia has claimed that the ICJ has no jurisdiction over the matter and has increased its naval and police presence in the islands. It has also prepared the legal defense of its case that will be presented before the tribunal.