Subscribe via E-Mail

Get all of our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning! Just tell us your name and where to send it using the form below.

PS – We hate spam too. We don’t sell or share our list with anyone, and we never send commercial email.




luxe
Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
20 years

Nicaragua to “double or triple” dredging of San Juan River in coming months

Email this page

November 18th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Nicaragua will spend $4 million USD in the coming months to “double or triple” its dredging operations on the San Juan River, according to the current Minister of Development of the Rio San Juan Basin and former Sandanista guerrilla leader, Eden Pastora.

 

Speaking to reporters, Pastora said that by early next year Nicaragua will add 15 additional domestically-built dredgers to the five currently taking part in dredging operations on the San Juan River, which is part of Nicaragua’s national territory though Costa Rica maintains navigation rights.

 

Pastora said that the domestically-built dredgers cost between $150,000 and $200,000 USD each, nearly four times less than imported equipment.

 

The former Sandanista guerrilla leader also known as “Commander Zero” defended the dredging operation despite claims by Costa Rican media that Nicaraguan nationals involved in the works are making illegal incursions into Costa Rican territory.

 

“It is not necessary for us to cross into Costa Rica [territory], we have not crossed nor will we cross [the border],” Pastora said.

 

Following media reports of the increased dredging activity, President Luis Guillermo Solis warned Nicaragua that he has issued orders to arrest any foreigner who enters the country illegally.

 

Costa Rica and Nicaragua have had several border disputes in recent years, including territorial disputes in the area of the San Juan River.

 

In October 2013, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Carlos Arguello blamed Pastora for the dredging of two canals near the disputed Portillos Island in the Caleros wetland without the knowledge of the government of Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, saying that Pastora acted without authorization, though Nicaragua described Pastora’s incursion into the area as “inadvertent” at the time.

 

costa rica news

ATTENTION: If you are seeing this message,


Advertisement


Get our news delivered fresh to your inbox every morning.

Click here to subscribe to our email list. We hate spam too and never send commercial email.

Like us on Facebook and receive our news in your timeline

  • HONEST MAN

    The world court said that the San Juan river belongs to Nicaraqua NOT Costa Rica. The Costa Rican goverment says alot of things about Nicaraqua but the truth is there is nothing to back up Costa Rica goverment claim. If Nicaraqua goverment want to build a canal let them and maybe the Costa Rican goverment should look out for all the problems in CR instead of looking for an enemy to hides all the problems in CR. Start helping the Costa Rican people and stop using smoke screens to hide all the problems in CR.

    • disgsted

      You are so right on. The border for CR ends at the river bank on CR side, until it curves northward near Los Chiles.

      Any news on the canal being built? Is this in preparation for the canal?

      • HONEST MAN

        I see this river being used as water flow for the Canal. Costa Rica goverment uses Nicaraqua as a tactic like US goverment used Iraq to keep people unaware of what really is going on.

  • NorthendFool

    Why would they build these cheap dredges and continue to play in a puddle. Chinese investors would bring in mega dredges that is if they were really going to do this. December is almost here and we see no Chinese anything or anybody. Land would need to be surveyed, plans made, hundreds of thousands of people relocated, infrastructures drastically changed. Massive concrete facilities built, docks for offloading all the materials needed, on and on. Its a joke. The
    Chinese are not coming.

    • Frank Castle

      The San Juan River is not part of the Gran Canal project. The part of the project they will build first is the Pacific Coast to Lago Nicaragua. They are already forcing people off of their land to start building their soon. I’m skeptical too because that is the easy part of the project.

  • Ken Morris

    Yeah, this is puzzling. Although the Rio San Juan is the best place for a canal, it really looks like the canal builders have given up on using it and are working elsewhere. Why then is Nicaragua ruffling more CR feathers there? My guess is that there is a reason, and we’ll know that reason eventually, but at the moment it makes no sense.

Popular Content