I have found old quotes on the web from former versions of the CIA World
Factbook and the Office of Insular Affairs web site that contrast with the
current versions.

The CIA formerly said relative to international disputes involving the USA:

> ...the Bajo Nuevo Bank (Petrel islands) are claimed by Jamaica; the Serranilla
> Bank is possibly claimed by Colombia and Honduras.

They are now unmentioned.

The OIA formerly said:

> The United States' claim to Serranilla Bank:
>
> About two hundred ten miles north north-east of
> Nicaragua lies the Serranilla Bank. Some consider that
> the United States acquired the bank under the Guano
> Islands Act of August 18, 1856 (Title 48, U.S. Code,
> sections 1411-19). Several very small cays emerge
> above the water to form the bank's islands.
>
> Colombia has not directly claimed Serranilla Bank but
> is on record as considering the bank a part of the
> Providence Archipelago in the intendancy of San Andres
> y Providencia. Honduras may have asserted its own
> claim over Serranilla as well.
>
>
> The United States' claim to Bajo Nuevo Bank:
>
> Called also the Petrel Islands, Bajo Nuevo Bank is
> situated in the Caribbean. U.S. claims to this bank
> derive from the Guano Islands Act too. Bajo Nuevo is
> claimed by Jamaica.

It now says that there are no remaining disputed claims.

I would take this as an active effort by the US government to ignore whatever
claim it once had to these places.

Please note that the Guano Islands Act says (at 48 USC 1419):

> Nothing in this chapter contained shall be construed as obliging
> the United States to retain possession of the islands, rocks, or
> keys, after the guano shall have been removed from the same.

The cessation of such possession, like its initiation, is apparently left to the
discretion of the President.

Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA