(19 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Santa Rosa Island, Peru – 16 August 2025
1. Various shots of a boat sailing between Peru and Colombia on the Amazon River
2. People walking along the pier on Santa Rosa Island with a giant sign reading “Santa Rosa” in the background
3. Welcome gate at the entrance to the island reading (Spanish): "Welcome to Peru"
4. Residents walking on the street
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Santa Rosa Island, Peru – 17 August 2025
5. Various shots of evangelical churches on the island
6. Various shots of Marcos Mera singing in his nightclub on the island
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marcos Mera, resident of Santa Rosa Island:
"God willing, my friend, that it’s just a smokescreen by Colombian politicians, because we don’t want to go any further and we have shown our Colombian brothers that we seek peace and want to maintain that brotherhood, the fraternity of the Amazon."
8. People at Mera’s club
9. Mera singing
10. SUNDBITE (Spanish) Marcos Mera, resident of Santa Rosa Island:
"With all sincerity, us who are from here will defend this place, and with our life if it comes to that. This is the place that saw the births of our children. I myself have a son and a daughter who were born here. We will not allow Peru to lose territory again for things that make no sense."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Santa Rosa Island, Peru – 16 August 2025
11. Various residents of Santa Rosa Island engaged in daily activities
12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ivan Llovera, resident of Santa Rosa Island:
"The economic activity has declined significantly. I have been talking to some neighbors who work in river transport and trade, and all this is affecting the tourism from Colombia. Businesspeople have been complaining."
12. Various of hospital
STORYLINE:
A remote island on the Amazon River — now the subject of a territorial dispute between Peru and Colombia — has a single paved road for a main street, which is home to more nightclubs and evangelical churches than any other businesses.
Named after a 16th-century saint, Santa Rosa has no running water or sewage system for its 3,000 residents, who build their one-story homes on stilts to prevent them from flooding every year.
People are Peruvian, but they cross the river to neighboring cities in Colombia or Brazil to see a doctor for routine care or an emergency that the rusting local health center cannot handle.
Despite the tensions, residents from both sides of the border continue to live together peacefully.
At least that’s what patrons of a local club hear from the animator and owner, Marcos Mera, who improvised some lines about the fraternity of the countries sharing part of the Amazon basin.
As he sang to convince the people at his club that residents of Santa Rosa wants to keep things peaceful, he was also quick to say that he is willing to defend the island for Peru, given the opportunity.
Banners of red and white, the Peruvian national colors, decorate the entrance and some offices, a distinctive mark of the government that operates in the area.
For the rest, as any other border city, it’s difficult to point out the nationality of the people inhabiting the area.
The island, with nearly 3,000 inhabitants and covering 10 square miles (27 square kilometers), made headlines this month after Colombian President Gustavo Petro rejected Peru’s sovereignty.
He said he would take the issue to an international court if the two countries cannot agree on ownership.
Peru has said it is open to dialogue but will not cede “even a millimeter” of what it considers its territory.
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