evidence: A historical review of the dispute helps to put the current situation in context. Ever since Gran Colombia, the post-colonial state that encompassed Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama, dissolved in 1831, both Venezuela and Colombia have failed to agree on the limits of their territorial waters over the Gulf, specifically Los Monjes islets. The countries have referred to different historical documents and theses to justify their claims to this area. While Colombia insists Los Monjes is within its territorial waters, Venezuela claims it as an extension of its own continental shelf. [3] Territorial waters, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, are the belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline of a coastal state. Likewise, the convention defined continental shield extensions as the portion of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit. Consequently, both countries claim different rights over the area: Colombia argues that the islets, located at 20 nautical miles from the Colombian shores, cannot be considered as part of the continental shelf. Thus, the Colombian thesis establishes a boundary using the middle-line principle between the mainland territories of the two countries, thus recognizing Los Monjes as an enclave within the Colombian territorial sea. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s thesis is that the islets are an extension of its border thus applying the middle-line principle between the La Guajira peninsula (Colombian territory) and Los Monjes. [4]