In times of unfavorable polls, questioning a neighbor’s territorial sovereignty is the perfect fuel to shore up internal stability. Petro follows in the footsteps of Maduro and Evo Morales.

By Ricardo Monzon Kcomt (Latinoamerica21)

HAVANA TIMES – In Latin America, maps are redrawn more quickly in campaign speeches than in the offices of foreign ministries. Santa Rosa Island, now at the center of tension between Peru and Colombia, is just the latest chapter in a well-worn regional recipe: when internal stability is at risk, there is always a piece of land at hand to stir up nationalism. Here, diplomacy often gives way to patriotic oratory, and sovereignty becomes political fuel that burns strongest in times of adverse polling.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro is the newest protagonist in this story of geographic instigation. The confrontation erupted on August 7 when he claimed sovereignty over the island, located at the triple border between Colombia, Peru, and Brazil in the heart of the Amazon. His move came in protest against the Peruvian Congress, which on July 3 passed a law creating the district of Santa Rosa de Loreto on that very island as part of its national........

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