Petro calls detention of Colombian workers in disputed territory 'illegal kidnapping'

On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 13th, river transport workers in the Amazon region reported suspicious activity to authorities. Two men were moving through the waters near Santa Rosa de Loreto, a settlement on Chinería island, conducting what appeared to be surveying work. By evening, Peruvian National Police had detained them. Their names were John Willington Ama and Carlos Sánchez. Within hours, the incident had escalated into a diplomatic confrontation over territory that both nations claim.

The two men were not spies or smugglers. They were contractors working for a Colombian consortium called Inges & M2020, hired to conduct bathymetric studies—underwater measurements—as part of a larger project to expand the Victoria Regia dock in Leticia, Colombia. Sánchez was a surveyor. Ama had been hired to operate the boat. They had crossed into the disputed waters to gather data needed for the dock expansion. According to their lawyers, they were doing preliminary work for construction. According to Peru's immigration authorities, they had no permission to be there.

The Colombian government moved quickly. President Gustavo Petro posted on X that the detention was "illegal" and constituted "kidnapping." He restated Colombia's long-standing position: that Santa Rosa de Loreto, and the island of Chinería itself, do not belong to Peru. Colombia's argument rests on the Rio de Janeiro Protocol, a treaty that Petro claims has never properly awarded the territory to Peru. The language was sharp and unambiguous. This was not a misunderstanding between neighbors. This was a sovereign nation rejecting another's authority over the land in question.

Colombia's Transport Minister, Maria Fernanda Rojas, provided more detail. She identified the detained men as Juan Daniel Torrado, a site inspector, and Carlos Sánchez, the topographer. Torrado, she said, had already been released and returned to Leticia. Sánchez remained detained. The work they were doing was legitimate, contracted under Invías agreement 1729 from 2020, part of the dock expansion project. They had hired Ama as their boat operator and proceeded to the island to take measurements. Then the Peruvian police arrived.

Peru's response was to treat the incident as a matter of national security. The Public Ministry, through the Provincial Criminal Prosecutor's Office of Mariscal Ramón Castilla, opened a preliminary investigation. The charges were serious: crimes against national sovereignty, specifically acts intended to "subject the republic to foreign domination." According to the prosecutor's initial findings, the men had attempted to establish the territory as Colombian land. Police conducted a technical inspection of the area, collected statements from the detainees and the officers who arrested them, gathered video evidence, and formally inquired with immigration about whether the Colombians had legal authorization to enter Peruvian territory. The answer was no.

What happened on that Tuesday afternoon was not an isolated incident. It was a collision between two competing claims to the same piece of earth, claims that have never been fully resolved. The Rio de Janeiro Protocol, signed in 1942, was meant to settle border disputes between the two nations. Colombia argues it left this particular territory in limbo. Peru argues it belongs to them. Two workers taking measurements became the physical embodiment of that disagreement. One was released. One remained in custody. And the question of who actually owns Santa Rosa de Loreto remained exactly where it has been for decades—unresolved, and now more tense than before.