Global IssuesCOSTA RICA: THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN PEACE
Costa Rica is seeking the support of the world to exercise its right to live in peace. The cause of respect for international law and for multilateral organisations as instruments of peace and sovereignty has received an important boost from the Organisation of American States (OAS), writes Rene Castro Salazar, is foreign minister of Costa Rica.
In this article, the author writes that since the end of October, Nicaraguan military forces have been present in a part of Calero Island, which lies in the San Juan River, the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and is undisputed Costa Rican territory. The immediate effect of the OAS decision is to support Costa Rica in its firm yet peaceful struggle against the violation of its territory and sovereignty by Nicaraguan military forces. However, the importance of the OAS decision goes far beyond the situation at hand, with hope, throughout the hemisphere.
But in a clear challenge to international law, the OAS, and the countries that backed the resolution, Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega has stated that he will not comply with the resolution. The Nicaraguan government's peculiar approach to international law holds as legitimate only that which is in its benefit. Thus the importance of the phase which begins now, after the OAS resolution. The Nicaraguan government must cease its aggression and its confrontational rhetoric and lack of respect. It must accept that which its multilateral commitments and a basic sense of fairness demand.
(*) Rene Castro Salazar is foreign minister of Costa Rica.
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