Last Thursday, Jorge Urbina, Costa Rican ambassador to the Netherlands, denounced the Nicaraguan government for encouraging its citizens to enter Isla Calero, a disputed swath of land in on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border, before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, according to the daily La Nación.
During April and May of this year, members of a group called Movimiento Guardabarranco entered the disputed zone at least seven times, the daily reported. The organization belongs to the Sandinista Youth movement, part of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), Nicaragua’s ruling party.
Urbina claimed that in encouraging the group to enter the disputed territory, the Nicaraguan government is sanctioning the blatant violation of a restraining order issued by The Hague on March 8 (TT, March 8).
At the time of the ruling, the world court determined that only Costa Rican personnel would be granted access to the area for environmental monitoring purposes. According to the ruling, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry must give Nicaraguan authorities prior notice of any intention to visit Isla Calero.
In addition, the court asked the two governments to avoid actions that could worsen the dispute.
“They entered a farm named Aragón in groups of 80 people,” Foreign Vice Minister Carlos Roverssi told La Nación. “We have doubts that some of those people are mere civilians.”
Roverssi also told La Nación that Nicaraguan ships docked for three days on Isla Calero while the crew flew Nicaraguan flags. He did not specify the dates this incident took place.
