CHAVEZ RODRIGUEZ, Yovani Edgar. The way to abolish the sempiternal uribe-vargas ozores treaty. []. , 11, 2, pp.30-56. ISSN 1390-7794.  https://doi.org/10.31207/ih.v11i2.304.

The 1979 Uribe-Vargas Ozores Treaty, also known as the Montería Treaty, is an international treaty between the Republic of Panama and the Republic of Colombia. This treaty grants the Republic of Columbia free transit for its natural and industrial products, mail, troops, ships and war materials through the Panama Canal. Unusually, the treaty does not establish an expiration date for this prerogative, which makes it indefinite. However, the Republic of Panama could initiate legal proceedings to change this prerogative for Colombia based on its non-reciprocal character and perpetual nature.

It is very likely that this decision would cause Colombia to resort to trade sanctions and result in an intense legal battle due to Colombia's interpretation of its historic rights regarding the Panama Canal and its 2012 resignation from the 1948 Pact of Bogotá, which obliges signatories to seek the peaceful resolution of disputes. Consequently, serious damage would be caused to the airline industry and the banking system of Panama. This article argues that it would, however, be appropriate to denounce the Treaty of Montería before the General Secretariat of the United Nations, by virtue of the Vienna Convention on the Rights of Treaties of 1969, which allows for use of this mechanism with the intervention of the International Court of Justice, if necessary.

: Canal; Colombia; international law; law; Panama.

        · |     · |     · ( pdf )