Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05LIMA5145
2005-12-02 16:39:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Lima
Cable title:  

PERU REJECTS ECUADORIAN-CHILEAN POSITION ON

Tags:  PREL PE CI EC 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS LIMA 005145 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PE CI EC
SUBJECT: PERU REJECTS ECUADORIAN-CHILEAN POSITION ON
MARITIME LIMITS

REF: A. LIMA 5037

B. LIMA 4662

C. SANTIAGO 2440

UNCLAS LIMA 005145

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PE CI EC
SUBJECT: PERU REJECTS ECUADORIAN-CHILEAN POSITION ON
MARITIME LIMITS

REF: A. LIMA 5037

B. LIMA 4662

C. SANTIAGO 2440


1. The Foreign Ministry, on 12/1, issued a communique
rejecting the position taken by Ecuadorian President Alfredo
Palacios and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in their Joint
Declaration on regional maritime limits issued that same day
in Quito. According to media reports, the Ecuadorian and
Chilean leaders declared their, "firm adhesion to the
treaties and other instruments regarding the Pacific
South-East, in particular the Declaration on a Maritime Zone
of 1952 and the Convention on a Special Frontier Maritime
Zone of 1954, which establish the maritime delimitation
between the parties through the geographic parallel."


2. The Peruvian communique in response reads as follows:

"With respect to the Joint Declaration that the Presidents of
Chile and Ecuador signed, on this date, in the city of Quito,
the Government of Peru reiterates its Official Communique
RE/13-05, of November 25, 2005, and reaffirms that the
Declaration on a Maritime Zone of 1952 and the Convention on
a Special Maritime Zone of 1954, to which Peru is a party,
are not treaties on maritime limits.

In this sense, the affirmation contained in paragraph 6 of
the cited Joint Declaration with respect to the claim that
the international instruments referred to establish the
maritime delimitation between the parties through the
geographic parallel, is an interpretation that is not in
conformance with international law and, therefore, lacks all
juridical effect."


3. The Foreign Ministry's communique referred to its prior
communique on this issue (RE/13-05). That communique was
issued in response to a Joint Communique issued by the
Ecuadorian and Chilean Foreign Ministers on 11/25. As with
the 12/1 Joint Declaration, the 11/25 Ecuadorian-Chilean
Joint Communique declared that the 1952 and 1954 agreements
delimited maritime limits, and the answering Peruvian
communique rejected this interpretation, which it argued,
"lacks all juridical effect." This Peruvian communique also
stated that, "The allusion to the geographic parallel as a
method of maritime delimitation is only applicable on the
Peruvian-Ecudorian frontier with respect to the existence of
islands. The Government of Peru reiterates that no maritime
limit controversy exists with Ecuador. Peru only has a
maritime delimitation controversy on its southern frontier.
The controversy referred to has been recognized by the
Government of Chile and is being addressed by the respective
diplomatic channels and eventually will be addressed by the
corresponding jurisdictional channels, in conformance with
international law."


4. COMMENT: While the Peruvian Foreign Ministry was quick
to react to the Ecuadorian-Chilean Joint Declaration's
reference to regional maritime delimitation with an answering
communique, GOP officials refrained from making public
comments on the issue. As the Foreign Ministry noted in its
11/25 communique, the Peruvian Government appears content to
handle this issue in diplomatic and legal channels, rather
than renew the political aspects of the dispute (Refs). END
COMMENT.
POWERS