Arias
Welcomed by Ortega in
Nicaragua
Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega
welcomed his Costa Rican
counterpart, Oscar
Arias, at the Managua
airport Tuesday for his
first visit since the
Sandinistas regained
power in January.
Arias is on a private
visit to attend an
academic event for the
20th Anniversary of the
Esquipulas Peace
Agreements, organized by
Nicaragua Catholic
University (UNICA) that
is directed by Cardinal
Miguel Obando y Bravo,
who also went to receive
Arias.
"We are very content to
receive President Oscar
Arias, president of a
brother people," assured
the Sandinista leader
during the brief
ceremony at the airport.
The Nicaraguan dignitary
recently accused his
Costa Rican counterpart
of conspiring against
the Sandinista
Revolution during the
peace negotiations and
that Arias was unworthy
of the Nobel Peace Prize
that he was awarded in
1987.
The two men took the
first step towards
warming up bilateral
relations with the
announcement of
restarting the stalled
Bilateral Commission
that aims to open
dialogue between the two
countries.
Ortega and Arias met in
private for about 45
minutes, the first time
the two men have met
since returning to
office since the 1980's.
The Bilateral Commission
was established in the
1990's to allow open
dialogue between the two
nations but was frozen
in 1997 when Costa Rican
and Nicaragua began
their dispute over the
navigational rights of
the San Juan river,
which forms part of
Nicaragua, but Costa
Rica has rights to
navigate based on a old
agreement signed by the
two countries.
The dispute is currently
before the international
court at the Hague.
Ortega picked up Arias
at the airport in his
own vehicle, discarding
the common practice of
the exchange of
pleasantries and despite
the announcement of
resuming dialogue, the
mood between the two men
was cold and cordial at
the same time.
The differences in their
ideology and politics is
clearly visible which
will make any future
relationship challenging
at best.
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