 In 1972 the United States and Colombia signed a treaty (ratified in 1981) that abandoned the U.S. claim to the reef.Unlike some islands included in the treaty that were ceded to Colombia, Quita Sueño Bank was regarded by the United States as having no emergent land and thus ineligible for the basis of a sovereignty claim.Rather than being ceded to any particular nation, the claim was simply abandoned with American fishing rights retained.