Costa Rica pressed on Wednesday for the Organization of American States (OAS) to intercede in a two-century-old boundary dispute with neighboring Nicaragua over a river that runs between them.
Costa Rica asked the Washington-based organization to tell Nicaragua to stop dredging in the San Juan River and to remove about 50 Nicaraguan soldiers from its territory. Nicaragua argued that bilateral talks should continue instead.
Officials from the two Central American neighbors met for hours after a special session of the OAS’ Permanent Council but appeared to come no closer to a resolution.
PHOTO: EPA
The two sides planned to continue informal talks with OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza through the night on Wednesday, Costa Rican Foreign Minister Rene Castro said, in hopes of having a proposal to present yesterday when the OAS was due to resume the special session.
“Reaching a consensus will not be easy,” Castro told Costa Rican news media in a video conference. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Before talks mediated on Wednesday by Insulza and the permanent council president, Joaquin Maza of El Salvador, Castro asked for an OAS resolution that would force Nicaragua to withdraw troops from land that Costa Rica claims along the San Juan and to suspend dredging work.
Costa Rica claims the dredging has caused environmental damage, which Nicaragua denies. Castro also proposed that Insulza, a Chilean, visit the region and present a report to the OAS.
“Costa Rica is not trying to change the current delineation of the border, or to take over any part of the river that belongs exclusively to Nicaragua,” Castro said during the OAS special session. “But that doesn’t mean that Costa Rica will allow Nicaragua to incur on its territory ... We will not accept unilateral changes of the boundary.”
Nicaragua’s ambassador, Denis Moncada, said Castro’s allegations were “out of line.”
“Nicaragua will continue to exercise its sovereignty and defense, the cleanup of the San Juan River and the fight against drug trafficking on our border,” Castro said.
In a televised message later on Wednesday, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla reiterated her country’s claim that Nicaragua has invaded her country in “a serious violation of our sovereignty, our territory and our environment.”
Chinchilla said she will continue to look for a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Costa Rican officials announced on Monday that they were reinforcing their police presence on the border after detecting a military encampment in which the Nicaraguan flag was flying.
Last year, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, the UN’s highest court, set travel rules for the San Juan, affirming freedom for Costa Rican craft to navigate the waterway while upholding Nicaragua’s right to regulate traffic.
The latest argument stems from Nicaragua’s dredging project.
Costa Rica objected to the plan when it was announced last year.
On Tuesday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said the world court in The Hague should again be the one to settle the dispute, not the OAS.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was