HONDURAS SUPPORTS MEXICO'S CARIBBEAN MARITIME

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 003140 SIPDIS DEPT. FOR OES/OA, L/OES, WHA/CEN, WHA/CAR, AND WHA/MEX E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PBTS PREL ETRD HO SUBJECT: HONDURAS SUPPORTS MEXICO'S CARIBBEAN MARITIME BOUNDARY INITIATIVE; MFA GIVES UPDATE ON PENDING BORDER DISPUTES REF: STATE 214982 ¶1. PolOff discussed Mexico's Caribbean maritime boundary initiative (reftel) November 5 with MFA DG for Foreign Policy AMB Mario Fortin. Fortin said that the GOH had attended the first conference in May and welcomed the Mexican initiative. (Fortin told PolOff November 18 that the GOH had "registered" its Caribbean boundary disputes with Mexico.) ¶2. Fortin said November 5 that with respect to Honduras' boundary dispute with Nicaragua, the GOH was only using the International Court of Justice (ICJ) process, and not the Mexican initiative. Post notes that although the overall issue of the Honduran-Nicaraguan Caribbean border is still pending, the ICJ recently ruled in favor of the GOH's petition against Nicaragua's 35 percent tariff on Honduran imports. ¶3. Fortin said that the GOH had negotiations underway with Cuba and Jamaica on boundary disputes, had recently completed negotiations with the United Kingdom on the Grand Cayman Islands, and had helped support the OAS process of negotiations between Guatemala and Belize. ¶4. In addition, Fortin noted that the ICJ had yet to rule on El Salvador's September 10 request for a revision of the 1992 ICJ ruling that laid out shared areas of control in the Gulf of Fonseca and established the land border between Honduras and El Salvador. PALMER