Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute

The Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute was a territorial dispute between Ecuador and Peru, which, until 1928, also included Colombia. The dispute had its origins on each country's interpretation of what Real Cedulas Spain used to precisely define its colonial territories in the Americas. After independence, all of Spain's colonial territories signed and agreed to proclaim their limits in the basis of the principle of uti possidetis juris, which regarded the Spanish borders of 1810 as the borders of the new republics. However, conflicting claims and disagreements between the newly formed countries eventually escalated to the point of armed conflicts on several occasions.
The dispute de jure had come to an end in the aftermath of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War with the signing of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol on January 29, 1942. However, this treaty was also questioned, and the two countries went to war on two more occasions: the Paquisha War in 1981, and the Cenepa War in 1995. Tensions subsided but persisted over the next three years. On October 26, 1998, Ecuador and Peru signed a comprehensive peace accord that established a framework for ending a border dispute. Formal demarcation of border regions started on May 13, 1999. The agreement was ratified without opposition by the congresses of both nations, finally bringing a definitive end to the dispute.
Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Spanish conquistadores expanded the range of the Spanish Crown's reach from early small settlements in the Caribbean to various continental territories, eventually including Central America and most of South America.
The Spaniards arrived at the borders of the Inca Empire in 1528, and on November 16, 1532, taking advantage of the Inca Civil War, the tiny army of Francisco Pizarro began the Spanish conquest of Peru. In the following decades, Spain consolidated its power over the entire Andean region, repressing successive indigenous rebellions.
To govern the new territories of Spain, in 1542 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) created two Viceroyalties, the Viceroyalty of New Spain (in modern-day Mexico) and the Viceroyalty of Peru (a.k.a. the Viceroyalty of New Castile). In 1542, King Charles named Blasco Núñez Vela Peru's first viceroy, but the viceroyalty was not organized until the arrival of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo in 1572. Toledo promptly declared war on Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Inca; soon afterwards, Tupac Amaru, the last Inca emperor, was captured and executed in Cuzco.
Because the territory of the Viceroyalty of Peru was so large, and far away from centers of government in Lima and Santo Domingo, Peru (as well as New Spain) was divided into a number of real audiencias (royal audiences), a type of superior judicial tribunal that combined executive and judicial authority, and can be considered "major provinces". The audiences controlled the gobernaciones, alcaldias mayores, corregimientos, and alcaldias ordinarias. The territory was also divided ecclesiastically, into archbishoprics, religious provinces, suffragan bishopries, parishes and curateships. The archbishoprics and religious provinces corresponded with the audiences, the bishoprics with the gobernaciones and alcaldias mayores, and the parishes and curateships with the corregimientos and alcaldias ordinarias.
These civil divisions were not uniform, with numerous exceptions being made based on the specific circumstances. The Viceroys were presidents of the audiences at the capitals of their Viceroyalties, with other audiences being presided over by captain-generals, or by persons known as gowned presidents. Power was devolved to the captain-general of an audience by the Viceroy, and the audience's territory was administered by the audience's president and the political, military, and religious officials underneath him.
Between 1542 and 1717, the Viceroyalty controlled most of the territory of South America (save for a few non-Spanish colonies and the Commandancy General of Caracas, which was a dependency of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo). The territory was divided among (noting dates of creation):
The district of an audience was established in the royal decree by which it was created; the laws laid out in the myriad of Cédulas Reales issued by the Spanish Crown were compiled several times throughout the centuries-long history of Spanish presence in the region. These compilations were referred to as the Laws of the Indies; the 1680 compilation, organized under Charles II, known as the Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de Indias (Compilation of the Laws of the Kingdoms of the Indies), set a template by which the laws were organized.
Under Title XV of Book II of the Recopilación, the limits of the audiences of Lima and Quito were defined as follows:
The two original Spanish viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru had existed intact up until 1717, when King Philip V of Spain issued the Real Cédula of May 27, 1717. The order split off the northwestern corner of Peru and created the Viceroyalty of New Granada. New Granada shared its capital with the Royal Audience of Santa Fé de Bogotá, and additionally had jurisdiction over the New Kingdom of Granada, as well as the audiences of Tierra Firme (now called Panama), Quito, and the Captaincy General of Venezuela. The territories of the Viceroyalty comprised the territories of, respectively, the modern Republics of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela, as well as the northern regions of Peru, the Brazilian northwest, and the western part of Guyana.
The Royal Audience of Quito had been established by a royal decree in 1563, its territory including Pasto, Popayán, Cali, Buenaventura and Buga in what is currently Colombia, and extended as far south as Piura in what is now Peru. The eastern limit was ill-defined at the time, due to a lack of geographical knowledge and the low importance given to unpopulated, hard-to-reach territories. As the Jesuit Missionaries from Quito and other missionaries entered the Amazon Basin, the Amazon region with its tributaries were more clearly defined and by 1740, the Real Cedula of 1740 precisely defined the borders between the Viceroyalties of New Granada and Peru.
Having temporarily suppressed the Viceroyalty of New Granada, on November 5, 1723, Philip V emitted another Cédula, which returned control of the Royal Audience of Quito to the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Cédula of August 20, 1739 (also called the Cédula de Reerección Definitiva del Virreinato de Nueva Granada, "Definitive Decree of Re-erection of the Viceroyalty of New Granada") reinstated the viceroyalty with its 1717 territories, including the Royal Audience of Quito. The border between Quito and the Viceroyalty of Peru was defined in 1740 by another Cédula:
This cedula greatly modified the original demarcation, but served only to fix the starting point of the line on the pacific coast at the river Tumbes. This document was the first mention of the Tumbes as the boundary between the two viceroyalties.
Don Francisco de Requena requested that control of the Government and Commandancy General of Maynas pass from the Viceroyalty of Santa Fe (New Granada) to the Viceroyalty of Peru. In response, on July 15, 1802, the Spanish crown under the rule of Charles IV of Spain issued the Real Cédula of 1802. The decree split the Government and Commandancy General of Maynas and the Governorate of Quijos from the Audience of Quito, and added them to the Viceroyalty of Peru. The text of the decree, as reproduced in the Annals of the diplomatic and consular missions of Colombia (1901), reads:
In a footnote, Dr. Antonio José Uribe, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia from 1901 to 1902, wrote,
thereby casting suspicion on the authenticity of one or more of the copies of the document, complicating the already difficult matter of interpreting its meaning.
According to Pedro Moncayo y Esparza, a 19th-century Ecuadorian writer, the Viceroy of Santa Fe and the President of Quito objected to the execution of the Real Cédula of 1802, as it had all the makings of an apocryphal document: it was not registered in the official cedulario, and its contents could not be found in the Recopilacion de Indias, nor had it been located in the Archive of the Indies in Spain. However, during the Peruvian congressional committee hearings regarding the dismissal of the Treaty of Mapasingue, signed between Ecuador and Peru at the end of the war of 1857–1860, it was stated that the Real Cédula of 1802 and the documents proving its execution were found in the archives of the ancient government of Maynas.
The lack of clarity within the document as to whether the transfer of administrative power was purely military and ecclesiasticcal in nature, or territorial as well, formed the basis for an imprecise territorial situation between Ecuador and Peru when the two nations obtained their independence from Spain.
The Republic of Gran Colombia was founded in 1819, with Simón Bolívar as president. On August 7 of that year, the independence of what is now Colombia was won in the Battle of Boyacá. The independence of Venezuela was won on June 24, 1821, in the Battle of Carabobo. One of Bolívar's generals, Venezuelan-born General Antonio José de Sucre won the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822, and freed the territory that was then Ecuador.
Gran Colombia comprised what is now Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama. It was Simón Bolívar's dream to unite all of South America, a project which he would never achieve.
Even before the battles for the freedom of the South American colonies were over, Bolívar established the uti possidetis juris principle as the basis for the territorial demarcation of the new nation-states that were to be born out of the ancient colonial jurisdictions. In essence, the principle stated that the borders of the new countries should correspond to the Spanish administrative borders, as they were in 1809. By this principle, the territory of the Viceroyalty of Peru would become the Republic of Peru (modern Peru), and the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada would become the Republic of Colombia (Greater Colombia, which included modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama). Border disputes arose when Peru began basing its borders on the Cedula Real of 1802 which gave them rights to claim territory in the Amazon region and the Cédula of 1803 which gave Peru the right to claim Guayaquil and the coast of Ecuador. Colombia claimed that both Cedulas do not change political borders because the Cedula of 1802 refers only to Ecclesiastical borders and the 1803 cedula deals with mercantile and military jurisdictions. Gran Colombia based its borders on the unmodified Cédula of 1740 to define its borders with Peru.
Bolívar had aspirations to maintain the unity of Gran Colombia, a republic that would unite most of the former Spanish colonies of the Viceroyalty of New Granada (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama) under his rule. Peruvian President José de la Mar, who had been a member of Bolívar's troops during the wars of independence and born in Cuenca, Ecuador, had his own political ambition. De La Mar wanted to establish himself as the formal ruler of Peru, which in precolonial times was called the Inca Empire which controlled parts of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Because of De La Mars ambition of restoring the glory of the Inca Empire by annexing Ecuador and Bolivia to Peru, relations between Bolívar and De la Mar quickly boiled over and the two soon became rivals.
Deciding to free Peru (what is now Peru and Bolivia) from what he considered to be an authoritarian project, De la Mar promoted an anti-Bolivarian campaign which gained popular support and led to insurrections, both in Peru and in Bolivia (Upper Peru), where the Colombian Army was expelled. Finally, he decided to confront Bolívar more directly by launching an attack. On June 3, 1828, de la Mar invaded the southern region of Gran Colombia; he occupied Loja and tried to capture Guayas, and intended to annex those territories to Peru.
Furious upon hearing the news, Simón Bolívar resolved to declare war against Peru. Sucre was appointed Commander of the Colombian Army. In 1829, De la Mar and General Agustín Gamarra occupied Cuenca, but were defeated in what is known as the Battle of Portete de Tarqui (also known as the Battle of Tarqui) by Sucre on February 27, 1829. A coup supported by General Gamarra in the Peruvian Army against President De la Mar paved the way for a peace treaty. Subsequently, the Convenio de Girón between Peru and Gran Colombia recognizes the borders as the "same ones of the corresponding Viceroyalties before independence." On July 10, the Piura Armistice recognised the annexation of Guayaquil to Gran Colombia, and on September 22, the war between Peru and Gran Colombia formally ended. [2]
The Gran Colombia federation dissolved in 1830 because of political struggles between regions which strengthened after Bolívar's resignation. Ecuador was born as a country on May 13, 1830, and began its separate existence with the adoption of a Constitution on September 23, 1830. According to this constitution, the Republic of Ecuador was composed of the provinces of Azuay, Guayas and Quito. These provinces later divided into the many provinces that exist today in Ecuador.
The term Gran Colombia is used today to refer to the federation that was formed between the Republics of Ecuador, Colombia (with Panama) and Venezuela before 1830. However, Gran Colombia is an anachronistic term, as the country was simply referred to as Colombia, which is clear, for example, by looking at original documentation of the many treaties signed between Colombia and Peru before 1830.
In Peru, the dissolution of Gran Colombia is seen as a country ceasing to exist, giving way to the formation of new nation states that had nothing to do with the original federation. The significant implication of this view is that the treaties Peru had signed with Gran Colombia were voided, as the country in question no longer existed, and was replaced with three new states, the Republic of New Granada (which subsequently changed its name to Republic of Colombia), the Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Ecuador.
An alternative view is that Ecuador and Venezuela separated from the Gran Colombia Federation (from Colombia in actuality) and inherited any treaties that Gran Colombia had signed with Peru as they applied to their corresponding territories. There are indications that Colombia itself maintained this position.
Ecuador and Colombia maintain that the Pedemonte-Mosquera Protocol was signed in Lima on August 11, 1830, by Peru and Gran Colombia as a result of the Battle of Portete de Tarqui. The protocol settled the eastern section of the disputed border from the Andes Mountains to Brazil by making the Marañón River and Amazon River the new border between the two republics. The protocol settled the western section of the border from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean by making the Macará river and the Tumbes river the new boundary. However, it left the status of a small area in the Andes Mountains named Jaén de Bracamoros in dispute. It was decided by Pedemonte and Mosquera that on a later date, either the Chinchipe River or the Huancabamba River would be chosen as the new boundary.
Ecuador has used this protocol as primary legal support of its core claims throughout the history of the conflict. Peru has disputed the credibility and the existence of the Piedemonte-Mosquera protocol on several points:
Even though it seems unlikely that Ecuador would have concocted a historical treaty of this nature, the fact that the existence of the original document cannot be demonstrated conclusively is significant.
Ecuador has managed to produce a copy made in 1870 that the Colombian embassy in Lima sent to Bogotá. The copy in question was obtained from someone's personal collection. However, it was not certified by Peru and remains disputed.
The Piedemonte-Mosquera protocol is mentioned in a Colombian document titled Legislative Act No. 3 published October 31, 1910. [4] The document explains how the borders between Colombia and its neighbors have been established; as to its border with Peru, it indicates they are those adopted by Mosquera-Piedemonte, in development of the treaty of September 22, 1829.
There are conflicting versions of what exactly took place. For an Ecuadorian view point, see [5] Archived 2008-06-07 at the Wayback Machine. For Peruvian points of view, see [6][7].
This was an expensive war fought over disputed territory bordering the Amazon. On September 21, 1857, Ecuador decided to adjudicate to Britain territories in the Canelos region as payment for international debt it had incurred during the war of independence. Peru immediately protested the Ecuadorian action citing the uti possidetis juris principle by which the Canelos region would belong to Peru, based on the territorial concession of 1802 to the Viceroyalty of Peru. Despite Peruvian complaints, Ecuador proceeded in its negotiations with the British. This led to an 1859 occupation and blockade of Guayaquil by President Castilla. (Ecuador at the time was undergoing a civil struggle.) On February 25, 1860, Peruvian minister Manuel Morales and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Nicolás Estrada, signed the Treaty of Mapasingue in order to end the dispute. (Mapasingue is a location near Guayaquil where Peruvian troops had been stationed.) Ecuador voided the concession of territories claimed by Peru to the British, and Peru withdrew its forces. However, the territorial situation remained unclear and was left to be resolved at a later time.
In 1941, the two countries went to war. As with all other such incidents, there are conflicting accounts to this day as to which side fired the first shot. Peru's version of events (notably well documented in Peruvian sources [15][16]) is that Ecuador had been making incursions into its territory since 1937 and occupied several border locations by 1940.
Given these circumstances, the President of Peru, Manuel Prado Ugarteche, ordered the formation of the North Grouping, a military unit in charge of the Northern Operational Theater, on January 11, 1941, consisting of two light divisions with three battalions each, plus four other independent battalions and three artillery batteries (one with six 105 mm guns) (Delgado).
In front of these forces, the Ecuadorian Border Security command had under its orders two Army battalions, the "Montecristi" and the "Cayambe", each one consisting of around 250 troops, armed with 7.92 mm Mauser rifles and a couple of Czech 7,92 mm ZB-26 light machine-guns, plus two Vickers-Maxim machine-guns. There was also a "Córdova" battalion, made up of around 100 troops, and a so-called "Mariscal Sucre" artillery battery, with 71 troops and no artillery pieces. In fact, the only artillery in the whole province of El Oro consisted of six Italian 65 mm mountain guns, sold to Ecuador as leftovers from the Great War, and almost without shells. These guns were never put into action. (Rodríguez, 1943).
As for anti-aircraft defenses, the Ecuadorians had only a pair of 20 mm Breda guns deployed on Puerto Bolívar, which was the only port of entry for supplies, reinforcements, and weapons to arrive to the province, by sea, from the port-city of Guayaquil. The Ecuadorian Army of 1941 had not a single warplane. (Rodríguez, 1943).
It is claimed that on Saturday, July 5, 1941, the Huaquillas unit of the Ecuadorian army invaded Peruvian territory, an action which originated a combat that extended across the entire Zarumilla front, up to a region known as Quebrada Seca.
Ecuador's version of events is that Peru's invasion was an unprovoked act of aggression carried out with the explicit purpose of forcing Ecuador to sign an unfavorable treaty that would impose the status quo border line.
A communiqué by Ecuador's Foreign Ministry indicated that Peruvian forces had been seen advancing north towards the border; all of the Peruvian troops stationed in Tumbes had left Zarumilla and those in Piura and other nearby sites were in turn advancing towards Zarumilla.
According to the Ministry, the actions of the Ecuadorian army were limited to repelling the invasion which was occurring across much of the border. [17] As support for its arguments, Ecuador has repeatedly cited the obvious difference in military might between the two countries, and the lack of preparedness of its forces. It has been speculated that Peru prepared to carry out an all-out invasion and could have been simply waiting for the slightest provocation.
Ecuador has also cited Peru's history of conflict with its other neighbors as evidence of its belligerence. It has been pointed out, however, that these circumstances did not preclude Ecuador from attempting to lay claim to territories it still considered its own. Also, during the War of the Pacific, the Ecuadorian military occupied a portion of the disputed territories.
The much larger and better equipped Peruvian force of 13,000 men quickly overwhelmed the 1,800 Ecuadorian troops guarding the province of El Oro. The Peruvian army had at its disposal a battalion of armor made up of Czech LTP tanks, with artillery and air support. (Beginning in the second third of the 20th century, Peru allegedly had one of the strongest military forces in South America, even as recently as 2005 it ranked second after Brazil and stronger than Argentina [18]).
The Ecuadorian president, Carlos Arroyo del Río, kept Ecuador's best forces in Quito, for fear of his political opponents (Arroyo would later resign on May 31, 1944, after much unrest in the country). Peru carried out the first use of paratroops in combat in the Western Hemisphere, dropping three paratroopers over the port-city of Puerto Bolívar (Delgado), one of them having been rescued by Ecuadorian fishermen when he landed on the waters of the Jambelí channel.
This attempt was largely successful in allowing a relatively easy takeover of El Oro towns, devoid by then of any Ecuadorian military presence after the short-lived ceasefire of July 26, brokered by the mediator countries (USA, Brazil and Argentina). After the ceasefire, most of the Ecuadorian troops, by now exhausted and without ammunition, left the field of battle and made their way out of El Oro, towards the city of Cuenca.
Thus, when Peru reopened the advance on July 29, which began with simultaneous bombings on the Ecuadorian towns of Machala, Puerto Bolívar, Pasaje, Santa Rosa, and Arenillas, plus a mission to the city of Guayaquil to drop leaflets, the Peruvian forces easily occupied the deserted towns of the province. A new ceasefire having been decreed to enter in effect on July 31 at 18:00 forced the Peruvian command to step up its efforts to occupy Machala and Puerto Bolívar, which they did with troops disembarked directly on Puerto Bolívar from the sea in the afternoon of July 31. (Delgado)
Even then, hostilities didn't cease, as Peruvian forces began operations against the Ecuadorian posts on the Amazonian jungle, most of which were easily overrun.
With Peru occupying El Oro and menacing Guayaquil, plus pressure from the United States and Latin America to stop the hostilities as a sign of hemispheric unity against the Axis powers (in World War II), Peru and Ecuador signed the Rio de Janeiro Protocol.
In May 1941, as tensions at the Ecuadorian–Peruvian border mounted and war was imminent, the governments of the United States of America, Brazil, and Argentina offered their services in aiding in the mediation of the dispute. Their efforts failed to prevent the outbreak of hostilities on July 23, 1941, but the diplomatic intervention led to a definitive cease-fire being put into place on July 31. Despite this, limited skirmishes continued to occur through the months of August and September in the Ecuadorian provinces of El Oro and Loja, as well as in the Amazonian lands. Ecuador accused Peru of continuing its advances into the highland province of Azuay.
On October 2, with military observers from the three mediating countries serving as witnesses, Ecuador and Peru signed the Talara Accord, which created a demilitarized zone inside the provinces of El Oro and Loja, pending the signing of a definitive peace treaty. Diplomatic efforts continued, with the mediating countries being joined by Chile.
On January 29, 1942, on the final day of the third Pan-American Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, the foreign ministers of Ecuador and Peru, Julio Tobar Donoso and Alfredo Solf y Muro, signed a "Protocol of Peace, Friendship, and Boundaries", known as the Rio de Janeiro Protocol. The observers from the United States, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile co-signed the document, becoming "Guarantors of the Protocol". The Rio Protocol was subsequently ratified by each country's congress on February 26, 1942.
By the terms of the Protocol, Ecuador agreed to withdraw its long-standing claim for rights to direct land access to the Marañón and Amazon rivers; Peru agreed to withdraw Peruvian military forces from Ecuadorian territory. An area of 200,000 km (77,000 sq mi) of hitherto disputed territory in the Maynas region of the Amazonian basin was awarded to Peru, which had been established to be the de facto possessor of the land since the end of the 19th century. The "status quo" line defined in the 1936 Lima Accord was used as the basis for the definitive border line; the previous border recognized current possessions, but not sovereignty. Relative to the 1936 line, Ecuador ceded 18,552 km of previously possessed territory to Peru, while Peru ceded 5,072 km of previously possessed territory to Ecuador.
Six times during the demarcation technical problems were found and referred to the Guarantors, with Brazil acting as lead. One of them, which involved the then contested Cordillera del Cóndor, was submitted to arbitration by Captain Braz Dias de Aguiar. Both countries initially accepted the arbiter's award, issued July 1945, and demarcation began in the area according to that ruling.
During 1943 and 1946 the United States Air Force performed several aerial reconnaissance missions over the Cordillera del Cóndor region (losing 2 aircraft and 14 men in accidents.) to help in the demarcation efforts. They found that the Cenepa river was much longer than previously thought and that it runs between the Zamora and the Santiago. This finding conflicted with article VIII, point B-1 of the Rio Protocol, which laid out delineation of the border for that area as follows:
The difficulty was that there is not one watershed between the Zamora and the Santiago, but two, as interpreted by Ecuador. This resulted in Ecuadorian president Galo Plaza halting demarcation in 1949. About 78 kilometers of border were left unmarked. In 1953 Ecuador withdrew from the Demarcation Commissions, claiming the Protocol "impossible to implement" in that area.
On September 29, 1960, Ecuadorian president José María Velasco Ibarra declared the Rio Protocol null and void. (Peruvian analysts have speculated that this was a politically motivated move by Velasco Ibarra, who was considered a populist, but evidence to support this assertion is totally circumstantial).
With the sole exception of Cuba, the American community did not approve of Ecuador's diplomatic move, with the United States sending a letter of protest to Ecuador.
The arguments for what is called Ecuador's thesis of nullity varied, but they were generally the following:
Peru's counter-arguments included the following:
Ecuador argued its thesis extensively for 30 years, but did not find support in the international community. Peru's position, on the other hand, was that a dispute did not exist at all after 1941, a position which lasted until 1995, when it was recognized as a problematic diplomatic issue.
Maps published in Ecuador since the 1960s up to the end of the 20th century officially had to exclude the unmarked 78 kilometers of border, that is, the Rio Protocol line was drawn as unresolved, and to include what Ecuador considered as its own by right, according to the Pedemonte-Mosquera protocol (1830) line, which puts the Marañón (Amazon) river as the border between Peru and Ecuador.
Such controversial maps of Ecuador, known in Ecuador as "Tufiño's map", were referred in Peru as "mapa recortado del Peru" (cut-off map of Peru).
The Paquisha War was a brief military clash that took place between January and February 1981 between Ecuador and Peru over the control of three watchposts. While Peru felt that the matter had already been decided in the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941, Ecuador did not agree with the Rio de Janeiro Protocol. Later in 1998 the Guarantors of the Rio Protocol ruled that the border of the undelimited zone was indeed the line of the Cordillera del Cóndor, as Peru had been claiming since the 1940s.
In the aftermath of the incident, both sides increased their military presence along the Cordillera del Cóndor area and Cenepa Valley, starting an escalating spiral of tension and provocation that finally resulted in another military confrontation in 1995, the Cenepa War.
The Cenepa War was a brief (January 26 – February 28, 1995) and localized military conflict between Ecuador and Peru, fought over control of a disputed area on the border between the two countries. The two nations had signed a border treaty following the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941, but Ecuador later disagreed with the treaty as it applied to the Cenepa and Paquisha areas, and in 1996 Ecuador declared the treaty null and void.
The indecisive outcome of the Cenepa War—both sides claimed victory—along with the mediation efforts of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States, paved the way for the opening of diplomatic negotiations that ultimately led to the signing of a definitive peace agreement (the Brasilia Presidential Act) on 26 October 1998. The peace agreement was followed by the formal demarcation of the border on 13 May 1999 and the end of the multi-national MOMEP (Military Observer Mission for Ecuador and Peru) troop deployment on 17 June 1999 which effectively put an end to one of the oldest territorial disputes in the Western Hemisphere.
A cease fire was brokered by the four guarantor countries, and subsequently the Itamaraty Peace Declaration was signed on February 17, 1995. One of the declaration's clauses included the creation of the Military Observer Mission Ecuador-Peru (MOMEP) in order to verify ceasefire agreements, as well as observe and report infractions through diplomatic channels.
The MOMEP contingent was made up of observers, logistics, and aviation support from the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile as part of Operation Safe Border. The mission, unique in its scope, was fully funded by Peru and Ecuador. MOMEP was largely successful despite several tragic accidents due to land mines left in the area.
At a critical moment during late July and early August 1998 it appeared that Peruvian forces were preparing a preemptive assault on Ecuadorian forces (this is partially believed due to the Peruvian Air Force buying 19 Soviet-built MiG-29 fighter planes and 18 Su-25 attack aircraft from Belarus to counter the abysmal state the airforce was in at the beginning of the conflict, with 80% of the fleet grounded due to lack of spare parts), but the presence of the MOMEP contingent was instrumental in defusing the situation. [19]
The guarantors assisted the parties in ministerial level discussions aimed at identifying the significant claims and disagreements of each side. Both countries agreed to a guarantor-sponsored technical commission composed of boundary experts in order to resolve the matter.
Before a critical meeting planned in Brazil for early 1997, both countries entered a period of unforeseen political events. In Peru, there was a hostage crisis in its Japanese embassy involving guerrillas of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Ecuador was going through a period of political instability as President Abdalá Bucaram, a strong supporter of an agreement on the border issue, was removed by congress due to alleged mental incapacity. (President Bucaram, who is known for his unusual antics, had visited Peru and was seen on TV eating ceviche and wearing alpaca hoods—a traditional indigenous outfit—along with President Alberto Fujimori.)
These delays nevertheless gave the guarantors more time to come up with a solution to the dispute. Eventually they concluded that a resolution would not be possible without granting something to each party.
The commission recognized Ecuador's position on one small already demarcated section of the border, and Peru's position on the larger issue of the single watershed between the Zamora and Santiago rivers. The latter was a blow to Ecuador's historic position, and left Tiwintza in Peruvian territory.
The solution that the commission reached was that an area of one square kilometer in the place of the fiercest struggle, Tiwinza, on the Peruvian side of the border, would be granted to Ecuador as a non-sovereign private property. The site could be used by Ecuador for commemorative and non-military events. Everyone born in Tiwinza will be considered Peruvian. Although none of the countries was completely satisfied with the solution, both accepted it, which was a significant diplomatic success.
The resolution also called for the creation of two national parks contiguous to one another (also referred to as a binational park) in the Cordillera del Condor region.
Ambassador Luigi Einaudi, the US guarantor representative, is credited with coming up with the idea of a private property concession in Tiwintza, working almost full-time on the problem, and coming up with ways to express issues in a manner not offensive to either party. [20]
On October 26, 1998, these two nations signed a comprehensive peace accord establishing the framework for ending a border dispute. Formal demarcation of border regions started on May 13, 1999. The agreement was ratified without opposition by both nations' congress. U.S. President Bill Clinton said: "This signing marks the end of the last and longest running source of armed international conflict in the Western hemisphere".
This dispute is unique and significant in the study of causes and resolution of international conflict. Ecuador and Peru are populated by people who share a language, a culture, a religious preference, have basically the same social and ethnic diversity, and comparable economic difficulties. They are also both democracies (for the most part in modern times) which puts in doubt the common contention that democracies never go to war with each other.
A 2000 study carried out as part of the educational ASA Program found teaching curriculum relating to the dispute to be extremely one-sided in both countries:
Many examples of bias are cited, which can typically be characterized as removal of critical information about the other side's position. Emotional and nationalistic coloring of the material also appears to be routine. Although expected under the circumstances, this has likely fed the cycle of conflict in the past.
Citizens of Ecuador and Peru feel both their countries have lost territory over time. The issue is one of overlapping maximalist territorial claims and aspirations.
High Peruvian military spending is seen by Ecuador as evidence of belligerence and expansionism. Peru also considers Ecuador belligerent and expansionist.
At the end of the 20th century things appear to have improved considerably. The Cenepa War of 1995 allowed an honorable resolution of the conflict without a clear winner. To many Ecuadorians this was viewed as restoring the honor of the country, which was at least as important as their claims to the disputed territory. Unfortunately, not everyone is completely satisfied.
Today, the entire Ecuadorian–Peruvian border is clearly delimited and demarcated, and the maps of both countries agree on the location of the common frontier. Bilateral work is being done by both countries Foreign Affairs officers to consolidate the economic and social integration. We can see part of this done by the Peruvian government with their Consulate in Machala, El Oro, where Minister Efrain Saavedra is the Consul General.
One of the concerns both countries have had is the impact of the dispute on foreign investment. Thomas McLarty, US envoy at the resolution talks and former aid to President Bill Clinton, has said peace is essential to South America's economic recovery. He added: "You clearly cannot have long-term growth and prosperity involving foreign investment without stability". While there are still political instability issues in the region, resolution of the territorial conflict is helpful.
Trade between both countries has benefited considerably. Before signing the peace treaty, annual trade between Peru and Ecuador was about 100 million dollars. But as early as 1998, it had increased 5-fold.
There was also a broad agreement of integration between both countries. It included a binational fund for peace and development, national plans for productive, social and environmental development, and so on.
According to Gabriel Marcella (US Department of National Security and Strategy), as a result of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute "a number of emerging views about international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, and modern inter-American affairs were either shattered or seriously challenged". Some of the global and regional political implications of the dispute which have been noted are the following: