Nica-News.com

Alejandro Pintamalli

06-03-2007

La delegación nicaragüense ha inaugurado en la ciudad holandesa de La Haya la fase oral del juicio contra Honduras por la frontera marítima en el Caribe. El embajador Carlos José Argüello reiteró que ese espacio en disputa “nunca ha sido delimitado”. Hasta el viernes 23 de marzo las delegaciones de Nicaragua y Honduras tienen cita en la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ), con sede en la ciudad holandesa de La Haya, porque es aquí donde se pondrá punto final a la controversia por los límites en el mar Caribe. Pero antes, expondrán los alegatos y réplicas en esta fase oral del caso que inició Managua hace siete años. 
 
El diplomático nicaragüense y embajador en Holanda, Carlos José Argüello, inició la etapa de los alegatos con una exposición de los argumentos ya esgrimidos por su país y que integran la demanda presentada el 8 de diciembre de 1999. 
 
Nicaragua quiere que se establezca una diagonal que parta del río Coco y alcance el paralelo 17. Honduras había establecido la frontera marítima -con la firma del Tratado Ramírez-López con Colombia, ratificado en el Congreso el 30 de noviembre de 1999- por debajo, en el paralelo 15, una demarcación que Managua califica de ilegítima.
 
El área en disputa comprende 130 mil kilómetros cuadrados y es rica en recursos naturales. La CIJ deberá determinar este año la delimitación marítima, la plataforma continental y la zona económica exclusiva en el Caribe que corresponde a cada uno de los países.
 
En la primera jornada de los alegatos, el agente nicaragüense dijo ante los jueces de la Corte que la línea divisoria defendida por Honduras es “simplista” e insistió en que el espacio marítimo “nunca ha sido delimitado”.
 
La semana próxima intervendrán los embajadores y agentes hondureños, Max Velásquez Díaz, de Francia, y Roberto Flores Bermúdez, de Estados Unidos. Será la ocasión para reiterar que el paralelo 15 siempre ha sido “la línea divisoria tradicional”. Recordarán que en 1906 el Rey de España fijó la línea fronteriza con Nicaragua en ese punto, en la desembocadura del río Coco, que a su vez fue considerado vinculante por la CIJ en 1960. Además, agregarán que su país siempre ha ejercido soberanía al norte de ese límite. 
 

Nicaragua argumenta que el laudo de España fijó sólo la frontera terrestre. Si se extendiera hacia el mar el reparto sería desproporcionado en favor del país vecino del norte. Agrega también que hasta mediados del siglo pasado no se había apreciado la importancia económica de este espacio marítimo. 
 
Entonces no existía el concepto de “plataforma continental”, explicó a RNW el embajador Argüello, por lo que el argumento de Honduras de que fijar la línea divisoria en el paralelo 15 se basa en la tradición “no puede ser aceptado”.
 
Esta controversia viene de arrastre desde los orígenes de estos países, desde la ocupación de Panamá por Estados Unidos, pasando por la concesión de las islas Providencia y San Andrés para compensar a Colombia por la pérdida de su antigua provincia -Nicaragua reclama su soberanía sobre estas islas y tiene cita el próximo mes de junio para evaluar la competencia del máximo Tribunal de Naciones Unidas para dictar sentencia en ese caso.

En los ‘80 Washington propició una política de hostigamiento contra el régimen sandinista y casi por extensión podría pensarse en el “cerco” marítimo como un efecto de esta política (Honduras acogió a la oposición armada de los “contras” y fue una plataforma militar para la estrategia de presión de Estados Unidos). 
 
Pese a lo cual, el presente quiere sepultar el pasado tormentoso de la historia del istmo centroamericano. En un plano diplomático -con fecha 5 de marzo de 2007-, la lectura es conciliadora. Nicaragua y Honduras aseguran que se someterán al fallo de la CIJ, sea cual fuere el resultado. Los jueces podrían dictar sentencia en el curso de los próximos seis meses. *Carlos José Argüello, embajador de Nicaragua en los Países Bajos, representante de Nicargua ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia.

**Eduardo Enrique Reina García, vice canciller de Honduras, enviado especial de Honduras ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia.

http://www.informarn.nl/informes/cpi/act070306_nicaraguaVShondura

2007/3/2
TAIPEI, CNA

Taiwan has invited Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Santos Lopez to visit the country at the head of a high-level delegation in late March, an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced yesterday.Simon Ko, director-general of the MOFA’s Department of Central and South American Affairs, said at a routine news conference that the purpose of Santo’s upcoming visit is to discuss the details of a cooperative project between the two countries.

According to Ko, Taiwan Foreign Affairs Minister James Huang and his Nicaraguan counterpart signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in January on cooperation in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua while President Chen Shui-bian’s was attending President Daniel Ortega’s inauguration.

The MOU seeks to promote direct foreign investment in high-tech and high value-added products in Nicaragua and joint ventures with Taiwan businesses, cooperation on water resources and health issues, and upgrading the competitive edge of Nicaraguan products at home and overseas.

If Santos can visit Taiwan later this month as scheduled, it will his first official visit to the nation, Ko pointed out.

Noting that Nicaragua is one of Taiwan’s major diplomatic allies in Central America, Ko said that the government will also invite Ortega to visit Taiwan in the near future to boost bilateral relations.

Ko further said Chen’s attendance at Ortega’s inauguration was vital to stepping up future cooperation ties between the two countries. He went on that Taiwan will continue to help Nicaragua promote its agricultural development and medical care.

Ortega, leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (SNLF) who made the decision to sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan at the start of his previous term in 1985, was elected to the presidency in November last year, so the question of whether there would be a change in bilateral diplomatic relations became a focus of public attention.

Chen attended Ortega’s inauguration Nov. 10 at the head of a Taiwan delegation and met with his Nicaraguan counterpart to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation in the future, with Ortega promising to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Asked about a media report that Saint Lucia might sever its diplomatic ties with China after former Prime Minister John Compton re-assumed his post following his party’s victory in last December’s general elections, Ko said the new Santa Lucian primer minister maintains good relations with Taiwan and that the MOFA will spare no efforts to expand relations with that Caribbean state.

Taiwan established diplomatic relations with Saint Lucia in 1984 when Compton was prime minister, but when Kenny Anthony came to power in 1997, he switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in late August of that year.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/taiwan/200732/103625.htm

The Associated Press

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 

MANAGUA, Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega has asked the United States and the European Union to set up “compensation funds” to offset the effects of free trade and globalization on poorer nations like Nicaragua.

Ortega said Wednesday that he had broached the idea with representatives of the EU — with which Nicaraguan is discussing a possible trade deal — and the United States, which along with Nicaragua is part of the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“We have explained to the Europeans that if there is no compensation fund, the association (agreement) would have no future,” Ortega told a meeting of businesspeople.

“We want a globalization with opportunities, with fair trade, which takes the issue of social justice to heart,” he added.

While Ortega did not specify how such a fund would work, he mentioned EU internal transfer programs designed to bring poorer union countries up to speed with richer nations.

“If the developed countries do not take into account the asymmetries, the problem of poverty — which creates the security problems — cannot be combatted,” Ortega said.

Free trade proponents argue that increased commerce and investment inherently help combat poverty. But Ortega says many businesses and farmers in smaller countries cannot compete with agricultural subsidies and economic advantages enjoyed by producers in wealthy nations.

The United States already gives Nicaragua millions in foreign aid. On Tuesday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan confirmed that Washington will send the Central American country about US$250 million (€190 million) in the next five years.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/01/america/LA-GEN-Nicaragua-Free-Trade.php

Carmen Herrera.  Mar 1, 2007

Will new female officials defend gender equity or maintain party alignment?

Nicaragua’s new Sandinista President Daniel Ortega announced that half the high-ranking positions in his government will be held by women.
Teresa Blandón, director of the Central American Feminist Program “The Current,” says Ortega’s policy is a result women have gained in the country through their efforts fighting the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s and their role in the 1980s armed conflict. Female activists also gained ground during struggles against neo-liberal policies in the 1990s.“It’s not a gift; it’s an obligation that the FSLN has with women,” she said.
She adds that there are plenty of women in Nicaragua who are not only professionally and intellectual prepared to take over positions once held overwhelmingly by men — but these women are also more likely to favor gender equality in their policies.

“Nicaraguan women are prepared to contribute to the formulation of policies, plans and projects that favor more equal relations between men and women,” she said.

For independent feminists, it has yet to be seen whether the women who now occupy 36 percent of positions in the Sandinista Liberation Front government will defend women’s rights and gender equality, or stick faithfully to party lines when forming their policies.

Guadalupe Salinas, director of the country’s Autonomous Women’s Movement, known as MAM, notes that no woman can be found in a high-ranking economic position. She says the women in Ortega’s government are mostly part of the inner circle of first lady, Rosario Murillo.

Murillo championed an Oct. 26 law approved by the National Assembly to criminalize therapeutic abortion, a half-century setback for women’s health rights (LP, Dec. 27, 2006).

“Rosario Murillo is supposedly at the head of women’s political rights, but she doesn’t recognize the fundamental right to life, which comes before all other rights,” Blandón said. “Why even talk about political, social rights if your right as a woman to preserve your life, your physical and psychological integrity isn’t recognized. That’s a great contradiction.”

Groups angry over government apathy
Some Sandinista female leaders complain that government offices do not even take into account proposals from the party’s women’s secretariats when selecting women for public posts.“In my city, we weren’t invited to participate in women’s proposals so they can become a part of departmental delegations of state ministries. Those who decided on these proposals were the political secretary of the FSLN and the mayor. I think we should have been consulted so they could have included some of our proposals,” said Ligia Orozco, coordinator for the Women’s Secretariat in Tipitapa, 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of the capital, Managua.

The office had prepared an action plan so women in this city could compete fairly with men for public positions, but the proposal was not considered.

The plan aims to be included during Ortega’s five-year term. One first-year proposal is a data base of resumes from women in the municipality, and the elaboration of a women’s committee to form a common agenda for the year.

Tipitapa’s secretariat will present the plan on March 8 — International Women’s Day — inviting all women to hear the proposal in hopes that they will sign on the initiative.

“Our goal is to motivate more women to fight so that 50 percent of the public posts are held by women, and to identify mechanisms that guarantee a qualitative selection process,” Orozco said. “Until now, we’ve only worked as auxiliaries for others.”

Fuente: http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=5040