Nicaragua claims Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia before ICJ

September 20^th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com) The ongoing conflict between Costa Rica and Nicaragua is not the only international dispute for Nicaragua’s Sandinista government.  This week Nicaragua filed a complaint before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, in which it claims the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia and the waters surrounding them.

Nicaragua’s basis for the claim is that the Sandinista government lays claim to the continental shelf extending more than 200 nautical miles off its Caribbean coast.

“We vehemently reject this new demand, which is asking to extend the continental shelf, which the International Court of Justice in The Hague has already denied,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in response.

A ruling on November 19^th, 2012 by the ICJ granted Nicaragua economic rights over 75,000 square kilometers in the Caribbean Sea near San Andres.  Tensions between the two governments have increased since.