Nicaragua’s “mutilation of territory” before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not only targets the Nicoya peninsula, but also Osa Peninsula and other important cities of the Costa Rican Pacific.
Edgar Ugalde Álvarez, a Costa Rican agent before the ICJ in the maritime and border disputes between the two countries, expressed this in the final arguments on how to draw the boundaries.
According to the Tico representative, Nicaragua seeks a criterion that draws a straight line that does not contemplate the entire Nicoya peninsula.
The Nicaraguan argument proposes the elimination of the piece of Costa Rican land known as Cape Santa Elena, since they believe it has a ‘disproportionate effect’.
The line claimed by Nicaragua in the Pacific cuts off the sovereign territorial sea of Costa Rica less than 5 nautical miles off the coast of the Santa Elena peninsula. In an attempt to justify this mutilation of Costa Rican territory, Nicaragua relies on what it characterizes as ‘broader macro-geographical circumstances’,”
quoted Ugalde in his speech.
The Nicaraguan position, according to the Costa Rican agent, is based on an interpretation of a judgment of the ICJ, when a dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua was resolved. However, it was widely questioned by Costa Rica.
Nicaragua wants to justify what it calls the ‘General Direction of the Parties of the Coasts’, which, incidentally, only follows the direction of the shorter Nicaraguan coast. Not only the peninsula of Santa Elena, but also large strips of Costa Rican territory, including the entire Nicoya peninsula and other territories, which include a number of important cities, must be erased with the stroke of a pen. As if this was not enough, they also seem to want Osa Peninsula, which is home to 4% of the world’s biodiversity. According to Nicaragua, the territory they intend to omit would constitute a ‘conspicuous protrusion’,”
said the diplomat.
Costa Rica described the Nicaraguan arguments as a ‘poor justification’ for the breaking of relevant elements that are part of the geography of the Pacific.
The background of this dispute would seem to be in the Nicaraguan interest in exploring maritime blocks for oil purposes.
Both countries have another dispute before the ICJ, which will seek to resolve a discrepancy on the land border in Isla Portillos.