Border dispute

Closing arguments are scheduled to last until May 1. A ruling could come later this year.

Costa Rica Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel González said the work to block the canal prevented major environmental damage that would have been virtually impossible to repair.

The case dates back to September 2013, when Costa Rican authorities discovered that Nicaragua had been dredging canals through Isla Portillos to connect the San Juan River with the Caribbean Sea despite that fact that the International Court of Justice had declared the territory “disputed."

The mitigation work that started this week in Isla Portillos, or Isla Calero, comes just three weeks before oral arguments are set to begin in the territorial dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Costa Rican officials on Monday appeared before The Hague-based International Court of Justice to file a final written response in the ongoing territorial dispute with Nicaragua, the Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Former guerrilla leader Edén Pastora, the Nicaraguan government's point man for the ongoing dredging of the Río San Juan, on Tuesday evening called accusations by Costa Rican officials that Nicaraguan workers had violated Tico sovereignty "lies."

Costa Rican officials on Tuesday afternoon shared with members of the press photo and video evidence of Nicaraguan workers allegedly using chainsaws to remove trees in Costa Rican territory, near the two countries' border. The images, made public by Costa Rica's ministers of foreign relations and public security, Manuel González and Celso Gamboa, respectively, also show a dredging boat on the Río San Juan that – according to González – is eroding the riverbank on Costa Rica's side of the border.

Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Samuel Santos on Saturday told media from his country that crews are working to "provide maintenance" to the Río San Juan because the International Court of Justice reiterated that the border river belongs to Nicaraguan and the court “recommended and practically demanded that we take proper care of it and maintain it."

Costa Rica’s Foreign Minister Manuel González on Thursday sent a formal protest note after confirming evidence of logging on Costa Rican land by Nicaraguans traveling on the Río San Juan, a natural border between the two countries.

If Panama had beaten Nicaragua -- the worst team in Central America -- by more than three goals, the Canaleros would've taken the top spot in the group. The spot could've been decided by a coin flip if Panama had won 3-0. Instead the Nicas saved Costa Rica from certain embarrassment by losing by just two goals.