Marine border disputes spark tension between Nicaragua and Honduras

Last November 30th, the National Congress of Honduras ratified a treaty that had been signed with the republic of Colombia on August 2, 1986 under the regime of Jose Simon Azcona Hoyo. The treaty, which was formalized in the San Andres Islands, sought to determine the maritime borders of Honduras and Colombia, which share interests in the Western Caribbean. It is part of a more comprehensive project by the Honduran state to establish all of its maritime borders with the different states in the Caribbean region and which include Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. It might be added that Colombia's congress ratified the treaty with Honduras on the 14th of December.

The treaty takes for granted the fact that Colombia has full control of the San Andres Islands, and recognizes its full sovereignty over this archipelago, which it has controlled since colonial times. It also takes for granted the traditional border with Nicaragua, which is commonly referred to as "parallel 15", which is in actuality parallel 14 degrees, 59 minutes and 8 seconds.

Traditionally, Honduras and Nicaragua have always agreed that this is in effect the maritime border in the Caribbean sea between both nations, however in 1980, the government of Nicaragua, under Sandinista Control unilaterally decided that this should not be the border, and claimed that the new border should be established in parallel 17. At the same time, they laid a claim on the San Andres Islands that belong to Colombia. This claim was made despite the fact that there is a treaty between Colombia and Nicaragua that was signed in 1928, through which Nicaragua acknowledges the fact that San Andres belongs to Colombia, and that the border between Honduras and Nicaragua is in effect parallel 15! Their defense of this new position was based on the fact that the document was signed at a time when there was a presence of USA troops in Nicaragua, therefore claiming that the USA had coerced the Nicaraguan Government to sign a treaty that was contrary to their best interests.

As a result of the approval of the treaty between Honduras and Colombia, Nicaragua immediately commenced a rhetoric accusing Honduras of deliberately trying to steal their rights, talked of war and closed the borders to all Honduran products into Nicaragua, placing a 35% "sovereignty tax" on Honduran and Colombian products. This action in effect putting a stop to all commercial and political treaties signed within the context of the Central American Integration Process of which both, Nicaragua and Honduras are active members.

Nicaragua is seeking to obtain control of the San Andres Islands, as well as the rich fishing banks known as the Seranilla and Rosalinda banks, whose control is to be shared by Honduras and Colombia under the current treaty. In addition, preliminary studies have proved that the probabilities of finding important oil reserves in the region are high. According to the treaty approved by the Honduran and Colombian congresses, any oil found in these banks would be shared in a proportional manner between both countries.

While the Nicaraguan Government has taken a tremendously aggressive attitude and placed al sorts of accusations against its Honduran counterpart, the administration of President Carlos Roberto Flores has taken a much more cautious diplomatic attitude and refrained from applying sanctions to Nicaraguan goods in retaliation for the unilateral actions of that country. Within a week both countries had agreed to take the dispute to the International Court in The Hague, where both seem certain that they will come out winners. In the mean time, the president of the Organization of American States, Cesar Gaviria has asked both countries to refrain from the use of power and named US diplomat Luigi Einaudi his personal mediator in the dispute.

Einaudi traveled earlier this week to Nicaragua, where he met with representatives of the public and private sector to learn more about the dispute. He met with ex president and Sandinista strongman Daniel Ortega, with ex president Violeta Chamorro, with Bishop Miguel Obando y Bravo and with President Arnoldo Aleman. Today, December 17th Einaudi is scheduled to arrive in Tegucigalpa to initiate meetings with President Flores as well as with other leaders.

Everybody seems to have high hopes that Einaudi's skills and efforts will help defuse this dispute. His long and very successful carrier has given him a reputation as a skilled negotiator, and amongst his most impressive achievements, he is credited with having helped Ecuador and Peru solve their border disputes earlier this decade.

The truth of the fact is that neither country, needs a war or a situation of tension between them. They are considered two of the three poorest countries in the western hemisphere and both are struggling to recover from the damage inflicted by Hurricane Mitch last year.

The conflict comes at a time of much political stress to Nicaraguan president Aleman, whose administration is under serious scrutiny after being accused of widespread corruption and mishandling of funds from donations received after Hurricane Mitch. The state comptroller has been put in jail after having pointed his fingers at the Aleman administration after funds donated where misused by government figures. Annalists agree that the problem, which has caused many donating nations to withhold further funds destined to Nicaragua, as well as the possibility of losing the HIPC status that the International Monetary Fund granted to Nicaragua earlier this year have created a tremendous political crisis that has severely strained the governments ability to govern Nicaragua. Under this scenario, it is totally possible that the Aleman administration has seen the opportunity to create a giant smoke screen that will distract both, the Nicaraguan people as well as the donating nations away from the corruption charges and towards the "aggression of Honduras".

Honduras Qualifies as a candidate of HIPC status

President Carlos Roberto Flores informed the nation that as of December 14, the International Monetary Fund had approved Honduras to qualify for the Highly Indebted Poor Country status. This means that our country has been considered as heavily burdened with our foreign debt without a realistic hope of ever getting out of this vicious circle created from debt. As a result of this status, Honduras can now apply to have an important percentage of its debt condoned as long as the monies that where to be used to pay the interests and capital are applied to specific programs aimed at reducing poverty while controlling the economy to insure that it develops within a free market frame.

Honduras, as such, is the third Latin American country to qualify for this status; Bolivia and Nicaragua have previously made it to this select club. Qualifying for the HIPC status is an important achievement for the current administration, however, it in no way means that hard times are over. An easy and close example is Nicaragua, who is in danger of losing the status due to poor management of funds amidst charges of corruption within the Aleman administration. It does however mean that with careful administration and a special effort to manage funds in a transparent manner there will be a light at the end of the tunnel for the many Hondurans that live at the edge of poverty.

Funds will be funneled to improve education, health and infrastructure, with close supervision from the International Monetary Fund. One thing is clear, it is not time to rejoice and claim victory, it is time to take advantage of the opportunity and work even harder than ever to insure that we can make the best of this historic chance that has presented itself to help pull Honduras out of the horrific lack of development that has characterized our country in the past.

On December 15th, the World Bank also approved the status of Honduras as eligible to the HIPC benefits. With this, the road to getting free of the debt that is strangling the Honduran state is well on its way to becoming a reality.

New Bridges Approved for the North Coast

The Swedish Cooperation agency has committed to build four bridges within La Ceiba. After several months of geological studies, they determined that what was left of the Rio Bonito was not stable and investment to rebuild it would not be wise. Instead, it has been determined that a totally new bridge will be built at an alternate location. The same can be said for the Rio Perla Bridge, which suffered serious damage during the floods caused by Mitch and those that Tropical Storm Katrina caused last month. Here, the proposed new bridge would alter the roads path, since it has been agreed that the road should continue on the shoulders of the Gracias A Dios Mountain Range instead of the floodplain where it currently stands.

The Cangrejal River will also see two new bridges. To replace the ones destroyed and damaged by Mitch. Both, the old Cangrejal River Bridge, originally built for the railroad almost 100 years ago and the Saopin Bridge will be completely replaced. Work began last week on the stretch of the Saopin Bridge lost to Hurricane Mitch last year. A Bailey bridge was being assembled and expected to become a more permanent solution to the landfill that has presently allowed traffic over the Saopin Bridge, which suffered additional damage last month due to the heavy rains that battered the north coast of Honduras.

It is reported that the Swedish Cooperation Agency insisted on contracting and supervising the construction directly, in order to insure that the final construction will meet international specifications. Many Thanks to Sweden for their assistance to rebuild this important part of infrastructure in the North Coast of Honduras.

Efforts to improve the airports throughout the country have finally met with results

Let us start in the Bay Islands!

The runway at Guanaja, which had been in pathetic conditions for a long time and resulted in numerous near calls from different flights into this island, has finally been resurfaced. After building draining ditches, a local Honduran corporation was hired by SOPTRAVI to repair the runway. Special efforts had to be made to insure that the island would not lose its air service while construction work was in progress. (The marine ferry service that was operating to Guanaja twice a week from La Ceiba was cancelled earlier this year after Safeway Marine Company succeeded in putting their competition out of business).

Although the work was not officially inaugurated yet, the runway is now in full use. With it Guanaja has just become a much safer destination to fly into.

Another of the Bay Islands, Utila, has just seen its landing strip totally repaired. The normally rough landing there was replaced by a comfortable landing experience (although it must be stated that this is a "rather sporty" landing strip. Machinery is in place in Utila and it is expected that work to apply an asphalt surface will soon begin.

Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands, has the only true international airport terminal of this insular department. Although the airport has been in service for a long time, receiving jet services, the facilities have been improved during this year to allow the arrival of intercontinental flights. Runway lights, BOR and an extension to the runway that gives it a total length of 2,300m where all finished earlier this year. As a result, Air Europe, a Europe based charter airline began operations once a week under contract for Grandi Viaggi, an Italian wholesale charter operator who invested in the Henry Morgan Resort in West Bay Beach, Roatan. Weekly arrivals are scheduled throughout the year on Tuesdays with service non-stop to Roatan from Milan.

Back to the mainland of Honduras: In San Pedro Sula, a mayor remodeling of the airport is under way and will include escalators to access the restaurant cafeteria located on the third floor, elevators for handicapped passengers and an extended counter area for airlines, since the current section is totally saturated. La Ceiba's airport is also under a face-lifting process, which will make it more comfortable and spacious. It might be added that this airport is easily the one with more domestic traffic in the country, since most flights to the islands and the remote Moskitia region originate here.