San Juan River News

Reuters - Costa Rica will ask the International Court of Justice to settle a decade-old maritime border dispute with Nicaragua related to potential oil concessions, President Laura Chinchilla said on Monday. Costa Rica plans to file a complaint with the court at The Hague on Tuesday in which it will ask the court to determine its borders with Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, she said in a statement. The dispute dates back to 2002 when Nicaragua published maps detailing oil concessions, some of which were in waters claimed by Costa Rica. Nicaragua published the maps of the disputed concessions again in 2013, reviving the issue. The Central American countries already have an open dispute at The Hague related to an area of wetlands known as Isla Portillos.

A concession to build a canal across Nicaragua linking the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea is to go to to a Chinese company. Citing Nicagaguan National Assembly legislative leader Rene Nunez, AP reports that the company will use funds from investors around the world to build the $40 billion project. He declined to name the Chinese company and did not give details of the concession. President Daniel Ortega stated recently that the canal would not go along the San Juan River as it had been planned, but would be built farther north, through the waters of Lake Nicaragua. He saw the project, when completed, as offering an alternative to the Panama Canal. Source: Associated Press