Riohacha, Colombia

Riohacha, Colombia: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Riohacha is a city on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia, situated at the mouth of the Ranchería River where it meets the Caribbean Sea. As the capital of the La Guajira Department, it occupies a coastal position that makes it suitable for submarine cable infrastructure. One submarine cable lands at Riohacha, connecting it to a broader Caribbean and Central American network.

That cable, ARCOS, links Riohacha to a multi-country corridor spanning the Caribbean basin and Central America. Through this connection, Riohacha participates in regional submarine cable connectivity alongside destinations including the Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Curaçao, and the Dominican Republic.

Cables Landing at Riohacha, Colombia

ARCOS is a submarine cable system measuring 8,704 km in length, which entered service in 2001. The cable connects a number of countries across the Caribbean and Central America, with landing points in the Bahamas, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, and the Dominican Republic. Riohacha represents one of Colombia's landing points on this system, placing the city within a network that spans much of the Caribbean basin.

Regional Context

Within Colombia's submarine cable landscape of 12 cables across 10 landing points, Riohacha sits among a group of single-cable landing points that includes Buenaventura, Parque Isla de Salamanca, and Puerto Colombia. Cartagena and Barranquilla serve as the country's most connected landing points, hosting six and five cables respectively, while Tolu hosts two. Riohacha's single cable places it in the lower tier of Colombia's landing points by cable count, though it remains part of the national submarine cable infrastructure.

Network Role

Riohacha functions as a single-cable terminus rather than a multi-cable hub, with its connectivity defined entirely by the ARCOS system. Through ARCOS, the landing point enables regional Caribbean connectivity, linking the Colombian Caribbean coast to island and mainland destinations including the Dominican Republic, Curaçao, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, and Belize. This positions Riohacha as a contributor to Colombia's Caribbean-facing submarine cable reach, complementing the heavier concentrations of cables found at Cartagena and Barranquilla further west along the coast.

Within the regional submarine cable graph, Riohacha's role is narrowly defined but geographically distinct: it extends Colombian submarine cable presence into the northeastern Caribbean coastline, diversifying the country's cable landing geography beyond the major hubs.