Costa Rica bets on stiffer border security as it waits for ICJ measures to start normalizing.
| Autor | Rodriguez, George |
The land border shared by Costa Rica and Nicaragua, stretching some 309 km from east to west, has been the stage for recurring tension between the Central American nations. These two frequently quarreling neighbors are no strangers to the International Court of Justice (ICJ); neither is the geographical where their tensions are centered.
Prior to the present five-month-old conflict, Costa Rica took Nicaragua before the ICJ in 2004, requesting the court to rule in favor of its position that Costa Rican police be allowed to navigate, armed, along the Rfo San Juan NotiCen, Nov. 3, 2005.
The river runs in Nicaraguan territory next to most of the common border, covering some 120 km between the Nicaraguan towns of San Carlos, on the southeastern coast of Lake Cocibolca--better known as Lake Nicaragua--and San Juan de Nicaragua on the southern tip of that country's Atlantic Coast. Costa Rica has some navigation rights on the San Juan, mainly for economic purposes.
Some five years later, in July 2009, the ICJ ruled that Costa Rican police could not carry weapons while cruising the river and recognized Costa Rica's free navigation right for commercial purposes, including tourism NotiCen, July 16, 2009.
But whatever harmony had thus been achieved was not destined to last. On Oct. 21, 2010, Costa Rica reported that Nicaragua had violated its sovereignty by dumping, on Costa Rican soil next to the border, sediment from the dredging of the Rfo San Juan that had begun days before NotiCen, Nov. 18, 2010.
Costa Rica later reported that Nicaraguan Army troops had entered the same Costa Rican territory--Isla Portillo--and that extensive damage had been done to the wetlands there, which extend on both sides of the border. Isla Portillo is the northern, 3-sq km, portion of Isla Calero on the eastern end of the border and the northeastern tip of Costa Rica's territory on the Caribbean.
Nicaragua denied the allegations, stating that its troops had neither violated Costa Rican sovereignty--since they were on Nicaraguan territory--nor had environmental damage been caused to the wetlands.
Among other diplomatic actions, Costa Rica again took its neighbor to the world's top tribunal, substantiating its allegations and requesting precautionary measures that would stop what was happening.
Both sides see ICJ ruling as victory
After hearing both sides on Jan. 11-13, and while it studies each party's claim that the territory in question is part of its own sovereignty...
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu pruebaCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
