Costa Rica and Nicaragua plan to display neighborly cordiality on Tuesday. At 10 a.m. government representatives from the two nations will sit down together for the first time since the dredging controversy of the Río San Juan divided them in October. The meeting will be held in the northwest border town of Peñas Blancas.
The countries were scheduled to hold an annual bi-national meeting last year in Liberia in November, though Costa Rica refused to attend because Nicaraguan troops were present on the Isla Calero, the disputed parcel of land between the nations (TT Nov. 25, 2010).
With troops off the Isla Calero, Costa Rica officially agreed last week to hold a meeting with Nicaragua on Tuesday, despite the recent protesting of Nicaraguan youths on the Río San Juan (TT April 8, 2011). Last Friday, Carlos Roverssi, the Costa Rican vice foreign minister, said that Costa Rica will attend the meeting “to create a dialogue about the aspects of security and the fight against drug trafficking along the border.”
On March 8, the world court ruled that parties from both nations must leave the disputed region on the Río San Juan and that both nations must refrain from any actions that may further aggravate the conflict (TT, Mar. 11, 2011).
According to the Foreign Ministry, Costa Rica will send a group headed by Roverssi that will include members of the security ministry, conservation groups and the immigration office.
For full coverage of the meeting, follow us online or see the April 15 print edition of The Tico Times. Updates will be posted Tuesday on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
