“The important thing is that Nicaragua's aspirations did not prosper”: the vice-president and foreign minister ruled on the ruling of the court in The Hague

The Court of The Hague was forceful in stating that Colombia has violated the rights of sovereignty and respect in the jurisdictions established by Nicaragua, since various maritime incursions have been notorious in the territory of the Central American country, in such a way that it is urged that such movements be immediately curtailed and avoided this meddling. Similarly, it is recognized that those waters where Colombia has come to sail, are an exclusive sector of the economy and development of the other country.

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The Colombian agent to The Hague, Carlos Gustavo Arrieta, described this entire procedure as a success, because the Court considered that Colombia did not violate the 2012 ruling, so that there would be no forceful sanction against the country, in addition the National Navy will be able to continue to operate against crime in the area, to which should refrain in this case is to carry out environmental control.

For her part, the Vice-President and Foreign Minister of the Republic, Martha Lucia Ramírez, stated that the ruling was not about limitations or the alleged maritime platform: “This decision today had nothing with either sovereignty or maritime limitation, this was a dispute over the rights of both sides of both Nicaragua and Colombia, and that is why it was necessary to see if the actions of these countries were subject to international law.”

Regarding the dispute, the vice-president said: “The important thing is that Nicaragua's aspirations did not prosper in its attempt to deny Colombia to have a presence and activities in the southwestern Caribbean Sea.”

On the benefits for the national territory, Ramírez said: “The Navy can continue to be present in the Caribbean and advance in the pursuit of transnational drug trafficking activities, the Colombian integral contiguous area is preserved in this way there is a unity, an absolutely indivisible integrity of our archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, Santa Catalina, the cays and all the islands that make it up, so that Colombia can protect its submerged cultural heritage.”

On the rights of the raizales, Vice President Ramírez said that the Court gave her the right to fishermen: “Now then the raizales will be able to continue to sail freely to reach the fishing banks that are in Colombian waters and Nicaragua will not be able to prevent their free movement, which was what had been happening in recent years.”

He also spoke about a counterclaim against Nicaragua by the National Government due to an illegal decree issued by the Central American country. “Decree 33, in which it defined some points and baselines and it is defined by the International Court that this Nicaraguan decree violated international law and the rights of Colombia.”

Most of those 51 incidents that Nicaragua had alleged against Colombia were ruled out. There is only one statement by the Court in relation to some very specific cases involving 16 incidents, and some of them are related to the regular activities of the National Navy in the area “as such was Nicaragua not recognized either none of the compensation he was claiming for alleged damages... We have a decision that confirms that the measures taken by Colombia as part of its defense strategy were successful,” Vice President Martha Lucia Ramírez concluded.

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