MANAGUA – President Daniel Ortega and Costa Rican counterpart Oscar Arias took the first step toward defrosting bilateral relations yesterday by announcing the restart of the long-stalled Bilateral Commission to open a permanent dialogue between the two countries.
Following a 45-minute private meeting – the first between the two since returning to their respective presidencies during the 1980s – Arias announced that both are committed to restarting the Bilateral Commission to address some of the pending issues that define relations between the two nations.
The Bilateral Commission was a mechanism that existed between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the 1990s to ensure open channels of communication, but it was frozen in 1997 during an escalation of tension over Costa Rica's rights to navigate the Río San Juan, the Nicaraguan river that forms part of the border between the two countries. Both Presidents agreed that the issue of the San Juan, currently in international litigation before The Hague, will not be addressed in the Bilateral Commission.
“Our countries not only share a common border, but a common dream,” Arias said. “But we haven't talked in 10 years.”
Arias was in Nicaragua at the invitation of Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo to commemorate the 20 th anniversary of the Central American Peace Accords, for which the Costa Rican President won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
Despite the apparent breakthrough in the relations between the two countries, on a personal level, the relationship between Arias and Ortega was as chilly as it was cordial.
Though Ortega picked up Arias at the airport in his own vehicle, the two men didn't publicly exchange pleasantries or any of the light banter that is typical during a meeting between two Presidents.
And when they did talk, the dissimilarities and ideological divide between the two men was clearly marked, suggesting a future challenges in the relationship between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, despite a new willingness to talk. |
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