Q COSTA RICA NEWS / Casa Presidencial said on Monday it has filed a complaint against Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice at The Hague (ICJ) for establishing a military post on its territory, heightening the risk of renewed tensions between the two countries.
Manuel Gonzalez, Costa Rica’s Foreign minister, said Nicaragua had occupied in November 2016 a beach, a virtually uninhabited area on Isla Calero, where both countries have a long standing border dispute, in northeastern Costa Rica.
“(Nicaragua) has installed a military post in a small strip of that Costa Rican territory. We took diplomatic steps … so that they would remove it, which did not happen,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
Nicaragua’s government has yet to respond.
This is the latest conflict between the countries. In court, Costa Rica keeps winning, Nicaragua refusing to pay for damages.
Costa Rica hopes to incorporate the latest complaint into another filed in 2014 which asked the ICJ to define the maritime boundaries between the two countries in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.
In December 2015, Costa Rica has also asked the court to define what compensation Nicaragua must pay after a separate ruling in December 2015 said that Nicaragua violated its neighbor’s territory by establishing a military presence between 2010 and 2013 in the wetland area known as Isla Portillos, he added.
Gonzalez said a ruling by the court is expected by the beginning of next year (2018).
Costa Rica estimates compensation to be some US$6.7 million. According to Gonzalez, despite a pledge by the Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega to abide by the court decision, compensation has not been negotiated between the two countries.
