PERU REJECTS ECUADORIAN-CHILEAN POSITION ON

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