Word: quita
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Moving slowly through shallow reefs two weeks ago, a battered shrimp boat carrying a Nicaraguan newspaper editor and three Miskito Indian sailors approached the tiny Caribbean island of Quita Sueño (literally "takes away sleep"), 140 miles off Nicaragua's coast. One of the Indians transferred to a canoe and paddled ashore. Watching for any Colombian troops who might possibly be near by, he proudly raised the Nicaraguan flag over the rocky ground...
...with a degree of opéra bouffe unusual even for Central America, began another round in what local newspapers have grandiloquently dubbed "the war of the flags." In fact, it is quite possibly the world's silliest international dispute. Nicaragua and Colombia are battling for jurisdiction over Quita Sueño and two smaller islets, Roncador and Serrana-all desolate, uninhabited specks of sand, coral and rock that vanish from sight during high tide...
...right to claim the islets as its own. In response, Colombian Defense Minister Hernando Currea Cubides, accompanied by military escorts in two destroyers, showed his country's flag around Serrana. As it happens, he did so more or less as an afterthought. The Colombian ships could not find Quita Sueño, which apparently was under water at the time, and the seas were too rough for the voyagers to make a beachhead on Roncador...
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