AMERICAS

Latin America: a truly friendly region?

In the ICJ, about one fifth of the border dispute cases are Latin American, which could make the region look like an enemy zone with friends' faces

Latin America: a truly friendly region?

 

For Latin America, a frequent, sophisticated strategy, which neglects violence, has been to resolve its territorial disputes through the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Of the almost 140 cases that have been submitted to the ICJ since 1947, 19% of these come from the Latin American region. How friendly are Latin Americans really?

Leer en español: Latinoamérica: ¿una región verdaderamente amiga?

All disputes have to do with the territory

 

The most recent case in which two Latin American countries faced each other in the ICJ is because of the borderline difference between Guatemala and Belize. Although the two countries agreed that they would take the case to the ICJ after holding an individual referendum asking about bringing the dispute to international courts, so far only Nicaragua has carried out the referendum on April 15. 96%, according to the Guatemalan electoral authority, more than seven million Guatemalans said yes to the litigation. For its part in Belize, there are still no plans to carry out the referendum, so much so that only the Ambassador of Belize in Guatemala, Alexis Rosado, said that the referendum will be "by the end of this year."

 

Although the two countries have a quiet relationship, Guatemalan claims are not a secret to Belize: 11,000 square kilometers, half of the territory of Belize that includes islands, keys, islets and sea surface in the Gulf of Honduras.

 

But another of the cases that is about to be resolved is the litigation between Bolivia and Chile, where there is not only the demand for an outlet to the sea, but also one for water rights of the Silala River. In the first demand, Bolivia intends to recover the exit to the sea that was taken from it after the War of the Pacific of 1879; in the second, Bolivia asserts that the cause of the Silala River arrives in Chile due to the construction of artificial canals. The river is born four kilometers from the border with Chile, but it flows IGNORE INTO the San Pedro de Inacaliri River, which makes it an international river. Bolivia says that Chile benefits from the river and does not pay anything for it.

 

Another case, which was already solved and had a large media coverage, was the dispute between Argentina and Uruguay. This litigation arose because of the installation of a pulp mill in Uruguayan territory, but near the border with Argentina. However, in 2010, the ICJ ruled that the plant did not pollute, so it ordered that the two countries carry out periodic inspections to monitor that the environment of the neighbor is not affected.

 

Further to the north, a litigation that has not yet definitively established the boundary delimitation is that it involves Colombia with Nicaragua. Although in 2012 the ICJ ruled in favor of Nicaragua and granted it sovereignty over more than 75.00 square kilometers in the Caribbean Sea, Colombia in 2016 presented a counter-memorial to appeal the ruling. As a consequence of this ruling, the treaties bordering on this area were also affected. Currently the countries have not been able to solve this situation pending the new pronouncement of the ICJ regarding the case.

 

Again in Central America, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua carried out a border dispute because an islet has caused differences between the two countries. Finally, the ICJ granted its sovereignty to Costa Rica. The final pronouncement on the limits between the two countries of both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean is still lacking.

 

Fights with height

 

While not recounting all the litigation that has been resolved by the ICJ since 1947, Latin America has been the region that has put the most work in the Hague court. The region now doubles Europe, which ranks second in the number of pending litigation. Latin America, with the continuous search to solve disputes before the CIJ, is a reference of respect for international courts. However, although the world, and the region itself, tries to visualize it as homogeneous reality is very different since fights are more common than in other continents. The integration that is being promoted in the region is still far from the "Latin American friendship" that is being sold to the world.

 

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

"Latinoamérica: ¿una región verdaderamente amiga?"

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