“We have a treaty of limits and any such decision (awarding of oil blocks) the boundaries have to be established,” Castillo said in an interview with the Wireless Local DNA.
Castillo said that for years Costa Rica has proposed to his neighbor than a United Nations body set maritime boundaries, but Nicaragua has rejected that possibility because he said “their interest is to do what they want”.
“Their attitude is worrying. This is due to an expansionist policy of Nicaragua that has persisted for decades, from government to government, and that the Sandinista government has led to extreme situations,” argued Castillo.
The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to Nicaragua regarding situation, which called for “the immediate withdrawal” of some exploration blocks to foreign firms Managua offers.
Costa Rica says there are 18 blocks in the Pacific and 55 in the Caribbean that Managua has offered to oil activities and found in Costa Rican territory or in areas without defined limits.
The foreign minister said last Tuesday that Nicaragua “has no respect for the neighbors” and that Costa Rica “will not allow these abuses.”
The minister explained that Nicaragua has no interest in defining the maritime boundary, Costa Rica will go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague, to establish which blocks need defining, although it is a long legal process.
“Justice is slow, but if this attitude persists in Nicaragua we will sue,” said the chancellor.
This is the latest episode in a long history of border disputes between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Currently the ICJ processed in a single file a demand for Costa Rica against Nicaragua for invasion of territory and environmental damage in an area that both claim as their own on the Caribbean coast, and another in which Managua accused its neighbor of damaging environmental the San Juan River border of Nicaraguan sovereignty. EFE
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose, Costa Rica
