THE RIO SAN JUAN CONTROVERSY: STILL A SORE POINT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAN JOSE 001451 SIPDIS SIPDIS WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KTIA SUBJECT: THE RIO SAN JUAN CONTROVERSY: STILL A SORE POINT IN COSTA RICA - NICARAGUA RELATIONS (1) SUMMARY: For years, the GOCR and the GON have sought an agreement over the controversial interpretation of a treaty subscribed by both nations in 1858. This treaty defined Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Rio San Juan (which is for the most, the border designation of most of Northern Costa Rica),while giving the GOCR the right to navigate its waters for the purpose of commerce and trade. Representatives of both governments have been trying to clarify in a more equitable manner this treaty and the boiling point was reached when the GON did not allow GOCR police forces to patrol the river for the protection of the Costarican population. After several attempts to resolve this issue, the GOCR sued in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Le Hague seeking to obtain sovereignty rights over their side of the river. The case is currently pending. This controversy is exacerbated by the influx of illegal Nicaraguans into Costa Rica who are taxing its resources in social services, and to whom the population of Costa Rica attributes the increased incidence of crime and violence. The Nicaraguans on the other side, feel they are discriminated against and have brought claims of discrimination in the International Court of Civil Rights. The controversy is not near an end, and in the meantime, relations between the two countries are strained. END SUMMARY. (2) For some time now, the GOCR took a conciliatory approach toward this controversy, fostering dialogue at the highest levels. In the first half of this year, several officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA),to include the Bruno Stagno, the Minister himself, visited their counterparts in Nicaragua and hoped to arrange a presidential meeting to resolve the issue. At some time, these talks seemed to head toward a meeting of the heads of state, MFA officials were confident that the Rio San Juan controversy would be the main topic of the talks. However, as of the end of June all hopes of a meeting between them vanished. (3) The last visit of Stagno to Nicaragua was in late May, when he traveled to Rios for the opening of a GOCR consulate there. MFA officiqals did travel during the month of June to hold talks with their counterparts. Additionally, President Arias sought to ease the strained ralations by inviting several regional presidents to a celebration of the 20 years of the signature of the Esquipulas peace treaty which effectively ended the Nicaraguan war. The celebration is to occur on August 8 in San Jose and so far, all Central American presidents have confirmed attendance with the exception of President Ortega of Nicaragua. As the main reason for his non-attendance is the planned visit of the president of Brazil, Inacio Lula da Silva to Nicaragua on August 7. His excused absence has not helped to diffuse the already strained relations between the two countries. (4) On June 28 the ICJ heard the parties and signaled the start of the written phase of the process, in which each party will have six months (consecutive, starting with the plaintiff, Costa Rica) to submit the closing arguments. Immediately following that meeting, the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Santos in a telephone press conference announced that they (the partied) had agreed to wait until September in order to attempt again a mutually agreed resolution to the controversy. He added that all due consideration would be given to Costa Rica for the commercial utilization of the river. The GOCR's response was swift and on the 29 of June they announced they would be presenting their case to the court without any further negotiations. (5) A stumbling block in the relations has been the increased influence of the President Chavez of Venezuela in the industrial and economic fields in Nicaragua. The GOV has awarded sizable credit to Nicaraguan businesses (Promised economic help surpasses USD 400 million per year) and the GOV has granted USD 32 million of debt relief to Nicaragua. Additionally, they are jointly building an oil refinery in Nicaraguan soil, capable of processing up to 150,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil per day. Since then, President Ortega has been more reluctant to meet his Costarican counterpart and has gone as far as to encourage the GOCR to reject the CAFTA-DR agreement (of which Nicaragua is already a signatory) while offering all the free trade agreement advantages to Costarican businesses that relocate to Nicaragua. (6) All of these have not seen with good eyes by the GOCR and it seems that the possibility of a mutual agreement concerning the Rio San Juan controversy has all but disappeared. Costa Rica, in view of President Ortegas's actions is changing his conciliatory approach to a more pragmatic, rigid approach, thus favoring the judicial resolution at the ICJ of their boundary dispute. SAN JOSE 00001451 002 OF 002 LANGDALE