The Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia is a beautiful group of islands in the Caribbean about 480 miles north of Colombia and 50 miles from the coast of Nicaragua. The three main islands are the San Andres, Providence and St. Catherine.

It has been supposed that the islands were first discovered by Cristopher Columbus during his first voyage in 1492.

In 1670 the English corsair Henry Morgan took over the islands until 1689. In 1803, after Spain's Viceroyalty of New Granada had been reestablished in 1739, the archipielago and the province of Veraguas, covering the western territory of Panama and the eastern coast of Nicaragua, were added to its area of jurisdiction. In the later colonial era the territory was administered from the province of Cartagena.

After gaining its independence, the Republic of Gran Colombia occupied the islands in 1822, transferring them to the department of Magdalena. Subsequently, the United States of Central America [1] (USCA) did not recognize the occupation of the islands and claimed ownership over them, while Colombia in turn protested the USCA's occupation of the eastern coast of modern day Nicaragua. The USCA federation dissolved in 1838 and the resulting state of Nicaragua carried on with the dispute, as did the Republic of New Granada (made up of modern Colombia and Panama) that emerged from the dissolution of Gran Colombia.

Colombia later established a local administration ("intendencia") in the islands during 1912. The signing of the Esguerra-Bárcenas treaty in 1928 between both governments temporarily resolved the dispute in favor of Colombia. However, since 1980, when the Sandinista government assumed power in Nicaragua, a constitutional reform was enacted and the treaty was renounced.

Nicaraguans claim that the treaty was signed under United States pressure and military occupation and thus does not constitute a sovereign decision, while Colombia argues that the treaty's final ratification in 1930, when U.S. forces would already be on their way out, would confirm its validity.

In 2001 Nicaragua filed claims with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the disputed maritime boundary involving 50,000 km² in the Caribbean, which includes the islands of San Andrés and Providencia. 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. In addition, Colombia and Honduras signed a maritime boundary treaty in 1999 which implicitly accepts Colombian sovereignity over the islands. It should be noted that Nicaragua and Honduras still maintain several other territorial and legal disputes.