Costa Rica has accused Nicaraguan troops of illegally setting up camp on its territory in October as part of a dredging project.
But Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, said his country was simply cleaning the river to prevent it silting up and said Nicaragua has long exercised sovereignty over the “small swamp” Costa Rica claimed had been illegally occupied.
“As soon as Nicaragua begins a modest cleaning and dredging effort ... Costa Rica finds reasons to start an international scandal,” he said, adding that the work has been completed.
The dispute even drew in Google Inc. when the Nicaraguan official in charge of the dredging project said in a newspaper interview that he used Google’s map system to decide where the work should be done.
Costa Rican Foreign Ministry legal adviser Sergio Ugalde told the court that Google quickly fixed an inaccurate map cited by Managua.
“Alerted to the mistake, and despite Nicaraguan protests, Google acknowledged the error and amended their map on Google Earth,” Ugalde told the court.
The San Juan river has been a source of disputes for nearly two centuries.
In 2009, the International Court of Justice set travel rules for the river, affirming freedom for Costa Rican craft to navigate the waterway while upholding Nicaragua’s right to regulate traffic.
Nicaragua lawyer Stephen C. McCaffrey said Nicaragua was under an international obligation to dredge the river to keep it clear for ships.
The problem at the heart of the dispute is that the border was set in the 19th century and the San Juan’s banks have long since moved in the shifting sands of the river’s delta. Gomez said Nicaragua is planning to file a fresh case against Costa Rica with the court to deal with the border dispute.
Costa Rica’s agent to the court, Edgar Ugalde Alvarez, told the 16-judge panel the dispute is threatening “the peaceful coexistence of the region.” “This is not the way two states who see each other as brothers should treat each other,” he said as hearings started at the world court’s oak-panelled Great Hall of Justice in The Hague.
Ugalde Alvarez called Nicaragua’s actions “a flagrant breach of law” and said his country, which has no army, has no way of “facing up to military incursions.” Costa Rica has asked the court to issue an emergency order for Nicaragua to immediately withdraw its troops and halt dredging. No date has been set for the court to issue its ruling in the case.
“This may seem to be a small dispute between two small countries a long way away,” Costa Rica lawyer James Crawford said. “But it raises a fundamental issue of principle to do with respect for territorial sovereignty.”
