Type Limit Treaty Signed April 5, 1941 Parties ColombiaVenezuela | Drafted 1941 Effective September 12, 1941 Start date April 5, 1941 | |
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Signatories Luis López de MesaEsteban Gil Borges |
The Colombia–Venezuela Boundary Treaty of 1941 officially Border Demarcation Agreement and Navigation of the Common Rivers between Colombia and Venezuela and unofficially as the López de Mesa-Gil Borges Treaty, it was an agreement signed between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela on the land border limits on April 5, 1941 in Colombian city of Cúcuta, by the Ministers of Foreign Relations of Venezuela, Esteban Gil Borges, and Colombia, Luis López de Mesa.
After almost 60 years of negotiations on the demarcation of the Venezuelan–Colombian border (1881–1938), the treaty of 1941 put an end to this long process. In this treaty, both parties acknowledged that the border had been fully demarcated, differences over boundary matters were completed, and recognized the work carried out by the 1901 Demarcation Committee and the Swiss experts Committee as valid demarcation. The exchange of ratifications of this agreement was made in Caracas, on September 12, 1941.
The land border between Colombia and Venezuela is a conflict zone of perennial tension between the two countries, due to problems such as Illegal drug trade, smuggling or illegal trade, the presence of high-risk diseases that often spread on both sides of the boundary lines, and the presence of the Colombian guerrillas.