Colombia’s president Juan Manuel Santos offered financial aid to the island of San Andres from assets siezed from drug trafficking, local media reported on Sunday.
The International Court of Justice [ICJ] ruled that the island of San Andres will remain Colombia’s, but a large portion of the surrounding waters will now be under Nicaraguan control.
According to local media, on December 29 President Santos will become part of a cabinet that will review measures taken to prevent an economic collapse on San Andres. The President reportedly promised that assets from drug-related real estate seizures will be sold and the funds will go to San Andres.
This announcement comes after a similar one made by Colombia’s president earlier this month where he declared that the tiny Caribbean archipelago will receive $110 million investment.
Santos explained that the $110 million investment would be broken into two stages — a short term one which would fund projects that deal with the immediate future, and a second stage, for longer-term projects.
Colombia’s head of state said that the funds would be divided between subsidies for fishermen and subsidies on energy tariffs, reducing the cost of flights from San Andres to Providencia, investment in tourism, education and culture projects.
According to Santos, these investments will inject “new air” into the archipelago.
“We will do everything within our domain, our power, to [make the archipelagos] better, ultimately, than they were before the failure,” said the president.
