Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DREDGES, BULLDOZERS & CROSS-BORDER MUDSLINGING
The Río San Juan is no stranger to conflict. Ever since Spanish colonizers and pillaging pirates
began battling it out at El Castillo, these strategic waters have been the source of many a conflict.
Well before the inauguration of the Panama Canal, the river had been identified as the keypiece
in any interoceanic route through Nicaragua. After countless border disputes, in 1858 the US fa-
cilitated a treaty between Nicaragua and Costa Rica that defined the border along the southern
bank of the river but awarded the river in its entirety to Nicaragua, making it clear that any future
canal project would only have to negotiate with one government. Thus the Río San Juan became
one of the few border rivers on the planet that belongs exclusively to one country, a fact that has
been a constant source of friction between the two nations, especially over the extent of Costa
Rica's navigation rights.
The long-running dispute hit the headlines again in 2010 when the government of Daniel
Ortega began dredging the lower stretches of the Río San Juan in what they claimed was an at-
tempt to restore the river's natural course that had been diverted by Costa Rican dredging in the
Río Colorado in the 1960s.
Costa Rica immediately expressed concerns about the environmental impact of the dredging
and soon afterward alleged Nicaragua was hacking a new channel through one of its islands, Isla
Calero, in order to annexe part of the territory. Dredging boss, and former Contra leader, Eden
Pastora rejected those claims, even famously pulling up Google maps to make the point that the
island, which Nicaragua refers to as Harbour Head, had always been part of that country.
Tensions escalated and Costa Rica sent heavily armed police to the area. Amid fears of a milit-
ary confrontation, Costa Rica took the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with the
court ruling that all parties should abandon the disputed area in the absence of a definitive de-
cision but that the main dredging project could continue.
While Pastora was pushing ahead with Lady Laura, the dredge named in honor of Costa Rican
president Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica began the construction of a 160km highway along the
edge of the river to facilitate movement to and from the delta. This saw Nicaragua taking its turn
to don the environmentalist hat, denouncing deforestation and erosion along the length of the new
road.
The extent of the impact on the environment from both projects is open to debate but with the
troops gone you'll have no problems visiting the lower reaches of the river to check it out for
yourself. Just make sure to ask your boat captain to slow down as you approach San Juan de Ni-
caragua so you can get a good look at the small patch of insect-infested swampland that sparked
the dispute and has galvanized nationalist sentiment in both nations.
La Esperanza
The first major settlement after passing under the La Fe bridge, La Esperanza is a typical
Río San Juan rural community surrounded mostly by pasture but with some pockets of
jungle and plenty of birdlife.
