Argentina calls UK 'arrogant' over Falklands

Fernandez: "We are going to get the Falklands back"

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has called Britain “arrogant” for refusing to negotiate on the Falkland Islands.

She was speaking the day after the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron reiterated the UK's stance in answer to a question from Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell during prime minister's questions on 15th June.

Cameron said “as long as the Falkland Islands want to be sovereign British territory, they should remain sovereign British territory – full stop, end of story.”

Rosindell had asked Cameron to remind US president Barack Obama that “the British government will never accept any kind of negotiations over the South Atlantic archipelago.”

Fernandez described Cameron's comments as an “expression of mediocrity, and almost of stupidity.”

She said the British “continue to be a crude colonial power in decline.”

The Falklands, which have been a British territory since 1833, have been subject to competing claims since the nineteenth century, however most Falkland islanders wish to retain British sovereignty, and the UK defeated an Argentine invasion of the islands in 1982.

US support for the British position has long been crucial to its ability to maintain control, but there are now signs that the US's position is changing.

Last week, Washington, through the Organization of American States (OAS), called on Britain and Argentina to negotiate over the islands's sovereignty, and crucially called the islands by their Argentinian name, the Malvinas.

Writing in the Daily Mail, British Admiral Sandy Woodward highlighted the importance of American support and argued that the British position in the Falklands had become “perilously close to being indefensible.”

"Twenty-nine years ago today, we re-claimed the Falklands for Britain in one of the most remarkable campaigns since the Second World War. The simple truth is without aircraft carriers and without the Americans we would not have any hope of doing the same again today."

The US, however, has been shifting its support in favour of Argentina for some time. In early 2010 the Obama administration made it clear that it would endorse calls for talks over the islands. This was reinforced in March 2010, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, at a press conference in Buenos Aires, that she agreed with Argentina that two nations should “sit down and resolve the issues between them.”

The US has also backed OAS documents calling for talks last June, and then again recently at an OAS meeting in El Salvador.

This week, a British man became the first Falkland islander to choose Argentinian citizenship. James Peck, whose father was killed fighting on the British side during the 1982 conflict, was presented with an identity card by Fernandez.

Sources: BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian, The New American

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

New mediator to assist in Guyana-Venezuela border dispute

Map of Guyana with Essequibo region highlighted

Steps are being taken to try to resolve the long running territorial dispute between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo River area. Professor Norman Girvan of the University of the West Indies, has been appointed as personal representative of Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Professor Girvan will serve as the OAS good officer, a role he also holds for the UN in the dispute, being appointed as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's representative in April 2010.

In his role as good officer, Professor Girvan will assist both Guyana and Venezuela in their search for a practical resolution to the dispute.

Caribbean leaders have welcomed the appointment. A communiqué from a meeting of the Conference of Caribbean Community (Caricom) government heads in Grenada over 25-26th February said leaders 'expressed satisfaction' with the appointment and the progress made to settle the matter. The leaders emphasised the need to strength relations between the nations, but at the same time re-affirmed their 'unequivocal' support for Guyana's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Venezuela and Guyana have a long-running dispute over the Essequibo region, which is rich in hydrocarbons and other minerals. The territory under debate covers some 159,500 square km, and includes the territory between the Cuyuni River to the west and the Essequibo River to the east.

The territory was disputed between the governments of Venezuela and Britain in the nineteenth century. An international arbitration tribunal in 1899 ruled largely in favour of the British, and established the boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana. Venezuela has contended that the award is null and void and Venezuelan maps produced since 1970 show the entire area from the eastern bank of the Essequibo to be in Venezuelan territory.

Britain and Venezuela signed the Geneva Treaty in 1966 which dedicated them to finding a practical, peaceful and satisfactory solution to the dispute. Guyana received independence soon after, and Venezuela at the time recognised the new State, but only recognised its territory as that east of the right bank of the Essequibo. Venezuela's claims amount to almost two-thirds of Guyana's territory.

The two countries agreed last year to restart talks aimed at settling the dispute. Guyana has said the dispute is discouraging oil companies from investing in the area.

Sources: Jamaica Observer, Taiwan News, Caricom.org

For more information, see the Menas Borders website, here.

Help offered, but progress slow on Nicaragua-Costa Rica border dispute

Nicaraguan President Daneil Ortega

Another country has joined the queue of parties offering to mediate between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. On 12th December, Costa Rica's vice-chancellor Carlos Roverssi and Ecuador's Ministro de Defensa Javier Ponce confirmed that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has contacted both Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla several times to offer his mediation.

The dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica dates back to October this year, and is centred on their border along the San Juan River. Nicaragua, who has sovereignty over the river, began a river dredging project in October, and was accused of dumping silt from the river onto Costa Rican land. Costa Rica also complained that the way it was being dredged would encourage the river to change course and move into Costa Rican territory. Nicaragua also stands accused of militarily occupying an island on the river.

Costa Rica, which does not have a military, asked the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) to intervene, and, in November, the organization twice requested that Nicaragua removed its troops, but Nicaragua refused. The case has now been referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, whose ruling on the matter will be binding.

With the case now in the hands of the ICJ, President Ortega seems to have given up on talks. Costa Rica's foreign minister, Rene Castro, said on 10th December, that the government of Nicaragua has rejected their proposal for dialogue. Costa Rica had apparently proposed a series of talks in Liberia, Costa Rica, for 20th December, but Ortega has said that now that the case is referred to the ICJ, he had no business attending Costa Rican-mediated talks.

Contradicting reports say that Ortega has agreed to have a dialogue with Chinchilla in the presence of 'friendly' nations and without conditions. On 10th December, Ortega said, "I am ready today to go anywhere presidenta Laura Chinchilla says, without any conditions."

It seems to be the question of conditions that is the sticking point. It was Chinchilla who apparently proposed the talks for 20th December, but said she would only attend them if Ortega had his troops removed from the disputed territory, and if OAS officials could act as mediators. Ortega is refusing to be restricted by any conditions whatsoever. He has said, however, that he is interested in carrying out the talks with 'friendly' nations as witnesses.

Costa Rica, however, argues that Ortega is being disingenuous. "President Correa proposes a commission of friend countries, but Nicaragua has refused. For that, the position of president Ortega is a lie: because President Correa has offered his country as well as Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico as guarantors to the discussion or solution and Nicaragua rejected it", Roverssi said. Spain and the US have also offered their help in solving the dispute.

According to Roverssi, however, "There is nothing pending, the subject is frozen".

Sources: InsideCostaRica, Fortuna Times

For more information on the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border dispute, see the menas borders website.

Nicaragua and Costa Rica in border row over Google maps

The 'Bing' map with the 'Google' map inset

Google maps has been in the news again, this time at the centre of a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The events have played out curiously over the last week, receiving huge media attention, and it is not yet clear how it will be resolved.

The dispute centres around the San Juan River, which starts in Lake Nicaragua, and becomes the natural border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica for much of its 120 mile course to the sea. For more than a century, the countries have sparred over navigation and fishing rights on the river, although the issues were largely settled by an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in 2009.

The ICJ decision regarded that Costa Rica has navigational rights on the river, but that Nicaragua maintains the power of regulation. In essence, they ruled that in the regions under dispute, the border lay, not in the middle of the river, but on the Costa Rican bank. The river itself is in Nicaraguan territory.

The problem with boundaries based on natural features like rivers is that they can change, sometimes naturally and sometimes due to human intervention. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega started a dredging project in the river in October this year, and it is this that caused the dispute to flare up.

The dredging project aimed to remove the river sediment that makes it hard to navigate the water; it was also however, hoped that deepening the river would redirect the water back up to Nicaragua, after heavy sedimentation had driven the flow into Costa Rican territory for the last 20 mile stretch toward the Caribbean.

The Costa Ricans, unsurprisingly, were not happy about the plan, especially when Security Minister Jose Maria Tijerino revealed photos showing that the river sediment was being dumped on Costa Rican territory. Ortega had communicated his plans to San Jose, of course, but the Costa Ricans accused the Nicaraguans over breaking promises.

“We had a guarantee,” Costa Rican Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Roverssi, told reporters Tuesday 26th October. “They were going to conduct only a small dredging that wouldn't affect Costa Rican territory. But what happened is a violation of our national sovereignty … that changes the circumstances.”

Farmers on the Costa Rican side have also alleged that a group of armed men have invaded their land, harassed workers and killed livestock.

It is this land invasion that has gotten Google in trouble; it is also the point in which most media coverage starts, ignoring the crucial background to the story. The leader of the dredging project is Sandista revolutionary hero Eden 'Comandante Cero' Pastora, a close ally of the Nicaraguan president. Upon being accused of crossing the border, setting up camp on a disputed island and replacing a Costa Rican flag with a Nicaraguan one, he blamed Google Maps, saying he was in territory that internet giant had said was Nicaraguan. Many commentators have pointed out that it would be worrying if any government was that reliant on Google Maps, and have suggested that the Nicaraguans are using the map to justify a land grab.

Costa Rica put up a fuss, Google admitted the map was incorrect and blamed the US State Department for providing it with information that put the border 1.7 miles away from where it should be. On Friday 5th November Google geopolicy analyst Charlie Hale said in a Google blogpost that the State Department had provided a corrected version and "we are now working to update our maps."

The problem could have been solved there, except that the Nicaraguan government spoke up, saying the current Google map was actually correct. A further issue has possibly arisen too, with unconfirmed sources saying that Pastora has denied the Google connection. Apparently, he says that he was on Nicaraguan territory as prescribed by the Canas-Jerez Treaty of 1858.

The dispute has become so serious that the Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Jose Miguel Insuza has flown to the region to help solve the conflict. He is expected to report on his progress on 9th November. On Saturday 6th November, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla said she was prepared to take the dispute to the UN Security Council if the OAS could not find a solution.

"Costa Rica is seeing its dignity smeared and there is a sense of great national urgency [to resolve this problem]," Chinchilla said after meeting Insulza.

There is no easy answer to this dispute. The 2009 ICJ decision relied heavily on the 1858 treaty, but there was great difficulty in determining the exact meaning of the treaty. It is interesting that both sides have claimed that the treaty will prove their view of the border region to be correct. Hale, for example, said Google was going to use the First Award of Arbitration of 1897, which affirmed the Cañas-Jerez Treaty of 1858, to redraw its border based on the Costa Rican request, while Pastora has said that the Treaty gives him the right be where he was. The situation will not descend into war – Costa Rica lacks an army – but both sides have increased official presence in the area. What Google will do awaits to be seen.

Sources: Globalpost, AFP, Google Blog, The Galloping Beaver Blog