Costa Rica faced Nicaragua last week at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, with the former demanding the withdrawal of Nicaraguan troops allegedly active on its territory. The border dispute has once again strained diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.

By Pablo Gamez, The Hague

Before a board of 16 judges at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Costa Rican delegation denounced the “provocation” of its neighbour, while Nicaragua criticised San Jose for “initiating an international scandal” about “simple dredging work” in a tiny territory.

The two countries returned to The Hague less than two years after the ICJ ruling on their historic dispute over the sovereignty of the San Juan river, which delimits a part of their common border.

The San Juan river returns to centre stage in the current disagreement that began in October with the alleged invasion of the small river islands of Portillos and Calero by a group of Nicaraguan soldiers. The sovereignty of the islands, located in the Caribbean at the mouth of the river in a marshy area, is disputed by both countries.

Costa Rica is now asking the ICJ to request the immediate withdrawal of the Nicaraguan soldiers from the islands. It further demands that its neighbour stops the construction of a canal in the area, saying it is causing environmental damage.

“There is a risk of serious deterioration of the conflict as a result of Nicaragua’s attitude,” Costa Rican representative Edgar Ugalde Álvarez warned during the hearings last week.
Costa Rica “won´t be intimidated and won´t accept the imposition by anybody or any fait accompli,” Ugalde Álvarez stressed.

He further said that the measures requested from the court are necessary not just to preserve territorial integrity but also to “protect lives” on both sides of the border. “So far no lives have been lost in the Nicaraguan incursion, due to the responsible attitude of the Costa Rican government and people,” he said.

Nicaragua, meanwhile, has refuted all the allegations. “Every time Nicaragua wants to use the San Juan river, Costa Rica creates a dispute,” says Carlos Argüello, Managua’s representative for the case. “Now they have found reasons to initiate an international scandal over a simple task of dredging.”

Argüello claims that any ruling  against an alleged military presence cannot be immediately executed, since there are no treaties that clearly delimit the border in that area. If both countries “have been unable over the years to determine where the boundaries are, how can Costa Rica maintain that Nicaragua violated its sovereignty?”

Despite the accusations from its neighbour, Managua insists that there is no permanent military presence on Portillos and Calero, and that Nicaragua only patrols the area to prevent the passage of drug dealers. The brief deployment of troops in October was done to “protect the workers  who were cleaning a pipe,” and whose work now “has already ended.”

Argüello also denied that Nicaragua is building a canal to divert the San Juan river. The root of the problem is that Costa Rica “does not want the river to be dredged because they are the ones that control that area, which is the only access to the sea,” Argüello says.

The ICJ will rule on the request of Nicaraguan soldiers’ withdrawal from the islands within the next months. Meanwhile, it could take years before the ICJ arrives at a verdict for the other claims in the case. 

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega claims that he will “respect” the court’s decision. Nicaraguan Environment Minister Juana Argeñal, who was in The Hague for an official visit last week, said the hearings proved that her country “has never occupied Costa Rica”   and that “the river cleaning was performed on Nicaraguan territory.”

Meanwhile, Costa Rican Foreign Minister René Castro, also present at the ICJ hearings, said that “Costa Rica was able to present a solid case with precise and specific evidence, showing that Nicaragua had violated our national sovereignty and caused serious environmental damage by dredging in the San Juan river.”

The hurling of accusations in the past week has further strained the feuding parties’ bilateral relations. Following the hearings in The Hague, delegations from both countries are in Mexico this week, where the host country together with Guatemala are attempting to mediate the dispute.

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