Sucumbíos Triangle

The Sucumbíos Triangle^[a] (Spanish: Triángulo de Sucumbíos) is a territorial zone in Ecuador, located between the Putumayo River to the north and San Miguel River, to the south. It belonged to Peru as a de jure international exclave between 1922 and 1942, when it was ceded to Ecuador after the Rio de Janeiro Protocol of 1942, and is now part of its border with Colombia.

Sucumbíos Triangle Triángulo de Sucumbíos
Former exclave of Peru
1922–1942
Flag
Status quo border between Peru and Ecuador in 1936, with the Sucumbíos Triangle at the top
Historical era	Republican Era
• Salomón-Lozano Treaty	24 March 1922
• Colombia–Peru War	1932
• Ecuador–Peru War	1941
• Rio de Janeiro Protocol	29 January 1942
Preceded by Succeeded by Colombia Ecuador
Today part of	Ecuador

History

After the signing of the Salomón-Lozano Treaty in 1922, Colombia and Peru officially established their borders and exchanged strategic territories. Colombia obtained an entrance to the Amazon River through the Amazon Trapeze, and Peru de jure obtained a strategic exclave between the Putumayo and the San Miguel Rivers.^[1][2][3] Although it had ceded the territory to Colombia in 1916, the Ecuadorian government did not recognize the act since both signatory countries also had territorial disputes with Ecuador.^[4][5]

After the Leticia incident of 1932 and the Colombia–Peru War, the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro of 1934 was negotiated in which Colombia and Peru smoothed over the rough edges and agreed that the borders would remain as had beenagreed in 1922. Colombia made it clear to Peru that it recognized Peruvian sovereignty over the Sucumbíos Triangle although Peru had not carried out serious colonization operations on its exclave.

In 1933, after the failure of the only serious attempt to colonize the triangle, the Peruvian diplomats Víctor Manuel Maúrtua, Víctor Andrés Belaúnde, Alberto Ulloa Sotomayor and Raúl Porras Barrenechea took dvantage of the end of the Colombian-Peruvian War and of the lapse of the signing of the 1934 protocol and tried to reach an agreement with their Colombian counterparts so that the Sucumbíos Triangle would return to Colombian sovereignty and the Amazon Trapeze to Peruvian sovereignty. However, that did not happen, and Peru continued to possess the uncontrolled territory.^[4][6]

Rio de Janeiro Protocol

Peru and Ecuador still maintained a territorial conflict, which escalated into the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941. During the conflict, Ecuador maintained control of the Sucumbíos Triangle, as well as the territories on its side of the de facto border of 1936. During the negotiations after the war for the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, Peru granted the triangle to Ecuador, in addition to other territorial claims in the upper Napo River, in exchange for other territories, as well as recognition of Peruvian sovereignty in Tumbes, Jaén, and Maynas.^[1][7] The oil-rich region proved extremely beneficial to Ecuador in the long run, as it contributed to its economy and a national reconstruction program started after the war^{[citation needed]}.

See also

• Amazon Trapeze
• Ecuadorian–Peruvian territorial dispute
• Ecuador–Peru border

Notes

1. Also known as the San Miguel-Sucumbíos Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo San Miguel-Sucumbíos), Cuembi Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo de Cuembi) or Cuhimbe Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo de Cuhimbe)