El Salvador denied on Monday that its navy ships had made forays into waters that Nicaragua considers its own in the Pacific Ocean, and assured that the area is under Salvadoran “sovereignty”.
“I refer to your note dated February 6, 2022 (…) which states the alleged – and not true – naval incursion of Salvadoran vessels in maritime spaces that Nicaragua erroneously claims as its own,” said Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill, in a note addressed to her Nicaraguan counterpart, Denis Moncada.
She added that these maritime spaces “are and have always been under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Republic of El Salvador, in accordance with the practice of the States and international law”.
On Sunday, Nicaragua protested to El Salvador for the trespassing in recent days, in a “provocative attitude”, of 3 Salvadoran military vessels and an artillery speedboat in waters it considers its own in the Pacific.
Managua expressed “the most energetic protest for the violation of Nicaraguan maritime space by armed military vessels of the Salvadoran Naval Force”, claimed Moncada, in a letter sent to Hill.
According to Nicaragua, two military vessels made advances on Friday to the southwest of Punta Cosigüina, on the northwest end of the Nicaraguan coast.
On Saturday there were reportedly incursions by an armed military vessel and a Salvadoran armed speedboat, also in the vicinity of Punta Consigüina, the Nicaraguan minister said.
“The government of El Salvador strongly rejects the full content of your note above, for stating that the waters in which the Salvadoran vessels were located are Nicaraguan, when they are unequivocally Salvadoran,” Hill insisted.
The Foreign Minister said that the Salvadoran government considers as “unacceptable the line of argumentation” used by Nicaragua “to justify an evident violation of El Salvador’s sovereignty” and “for trying to create a non-existent perception of a provocative attitude” on the part of the Naval Force.
Punta Cosigüina is part of a Nicaraguan peninsula of the same name in the Pacific bordering the Gulf of Fonseca, whose waters are shared by Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.
