No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveForeign Minister Assures San Juan River Case Ready

Foreign Minister Assures San Juan River Case Ready

Outgoing Minister of Foreign Relations Roberto Tovar has assured the country that Costa Rica is ready to submit its arguments before the International Court of Justice, seated in The Hague, the Netherlands, in the San Juan River dispute with Nicaragua.

The San Juan River separates Costa Rica from Nicaragua along the eastern half of the border and is Nicaraguan territory, though Costa Rica has navigational rights to the river. The dispute centers on differing interpretations of what those navigational rights entail, based on treaties signed by both sides in the late 1800s (TT, Nov. 11, 2005).

Costa Rica turned to the International Court of Justice in The Hague Sept. 28, 2005, after the two countries failed to come to an agreement following years of negotiations (TT, Sept. 30, 2005).

Tovar last week explained that Costa Rica’s arguments, which must be submitted in written form, are ready, but Costa Rica will wait until its Aug. 29 deadline to turn them in, time which will be spent fine tuning the case. He delined to comment on the details.

Nicaragua has another nine months after Costa Rica submits its case to respond. Costa Rica has a chance to reply, and then oral hearings on the matter will begin.

Sergio Ugalde, the coordinator of the Foreign Ministry’s foreign law committee, told The Tico Times he believes the case would be resolved in approximately four years.

Tovar also announced that he expects the total cost of the proceedings for Costa Rica to be between $1.3-1.4 million, significantly less than the figures of $15-20 million originally announced.

 

Trending Now

Costa Rica’s Rare Birds at Risk as Human Activity Threatens Extinction

Costa Rica’s bare-necked umbrellabird, a striking black bird with a red throat pouch and crest, is in trouble. A new study in Nature Ecology...

Life After MS-13 in El Salvador as Residents Seek a Fragile Peace

Esperanza Martinez lost three relatives who were murdered and saw numerous bodies left in the streets of her neighborhood, a former stronghold of the...

Costa Rica’s Pride 2025 Closing Event Bans Minors, Sparks Outrage

Costa Rica’s Pride 2025 closing event, set for June 29 at San José’s Plaza de la Democracia, was thrown into controversy when the government...

2025 Gold Cup: Honduras Advances After Dramatic Shootout, Mexico Ends Goal Drought

Honduras, with a surprising and dramatic penalty shootout victory over Panama, and Mexico, with a lackluster win against Saudi Arabia, advanced Saturday to the...

Costa Rica’s Piangua Mollusk Threatened by Pineapple Farm Runoff

Costa Rica’s Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, a 33,000-hectare haven of mangroves and rivers, is under siege from an unlikely source: pineapple farms. A study by...

Costa Rica Hunts for Nicaraguan Hit Squad After Exile’s Assassination

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) is investigating whether a hit squad tied to Nicaragua’s Ortega-Murillo regime is targeting exiled critics on its soil....
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica