The Colombian Navy still remains in Caribbean waters yielded to Nicaragua by the International Court of Justice, as confirmed Wednesday by National Navy commander, Robert Garcia. In agreement with Admiral Garcia, a fleet is deployed in the territorial sea by orders of Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, to protect 20 fishing boats that work in the well-known zone like La Esquina, a very rich site in lobsters.
The official explained Colombian radio station Radio Caracol that the President gave instructions for “maintaining the national sovereignty in the Colombian marine jurisdiction, understood like a one which historically the Colombian people have known by more than 200 years.”
“This will be until a different jurisdiction from the one imposed by the ICJ is defined by the government,” said the military, talking about before the unease that such a decision provoked in Colombia, that traditionally operated those waters in spite of the Nicaraguan claims.
The ICJ confirmed the sovereignty of Colombia on seven keys near the Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés: Albuquerque, Este Sudeste, Roncador, Serrana, Quitasueño, Serranilla and Bajonuevo, which were cause of an old dispute between Bogota and Managua.
But at the same time it redefined the sea border between both states, with which Nicaragua recovered more than 90, 300 square kilometres of a territorial sea coveted among other reasons by its hydrocarbon deposits and the abundance of fishing (mainly lobsters).
Up to the moment, as much Admiral Garcia as the Minister of Defense, Juan Carlos Pinzón, confirm that any incident with Nicaraguan boats in the zone has not occurred.
