Nicaragua Denounces Incursion by Salvadoran Armed Military Ships into Nicaraguan Waters

Nicaragua’s Government of Reconciliation and National Unity has denounced the sending of Salvadoran Military Artillery Ships to the maritime spaces of Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean, by the government of El Salvador. 

These Salvadoran Military Vessels have made incursions less than 30 miles away from Nicaraguan coasts, in undisputed maritime spaces sovereign to Nicaragua.

The press release can be read below.

Press Release

The Government of Reconciliation and National Unity informs the People of Nicaragua and the International Community that from Saturday, 5th February, until the time of issuance of this note, the Government of the Republic of El Salvador has sent armed military ships to the maritime spaces of Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean.

Salvadoran military ships have entered less than 30 miles away from our coasts and remain in that place claiming Sovereignty over said maritime spaces. Nicaragua wishes to emphasize that these spaces have always been under the Unquestionable Sovereignty of Nicaragua and that El Salvador has never before attempted or claimed Sovereignty over them.

Prior to the hostile actions that are being carried out by El Salvador, there was no document in which El Salvador claimed Sovereignty over those spaces, nor any record that it has entered that area as it is currently doing.

Historically, El Salvador’s position has always been and continues to be that the Republic of Honduras has no rights in the mouth of the Gulf of Fonseca and therefore in the waters outside of it, in the Pacific Ocean.

Precisely because of this intransigent attitude of El Salvador with the sister Republic of Honduras, Nicaragua signed the “Boundary Treaty between the Republic of Nicaragua and the Republic of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea and Waters outside of the Gulf of Fonseca” at a bilateral level, on 27th October, 2021.

The Government of Nicaragua at the time explained that with the signing of this Treaty, Nicaragua would do what was necessary on its part, so that the brotherly Honduran people may obtain their well-deserved right to a part of those waters; a right that the International Court of Justice itself had already recognized and that El Salvador, to this day, refuses to recognize.

In that Treaty, a call was made “to the sister Republic of El Salvador to continue with the efforts to maintain the maritime spaces in the Gulf of Fonseca and in the Pacific Ocean, as zones of peace, sustainable development and security, as well as to expand the bonds of cooperation”, and this has been reaffirmed by the Nicaraguan authorities on several occasions, after the signing of said treaty.

This invasion of El Salvador in the maritime spaces of Nicaragua less than 30 miles from our continental coast is not due to any territorial dispute with Nicaragua in an area that it has never claimed before, but rather is a gesture of rejection of the invitation of the Treaty to maintain these spaces as Zones of Peace.

With these actions, what El Salvador really intends to do is to violently put an end to the Boundary Treaty between Nicaragua and Honduras.

Nicaragua is respectful of International Law and has historically demonstrated this by abiding by the resolutions of the International Court of Justice on various matters, especially those related to the delimitation of its border spaces in both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. In this manner, the actions taken by Nicaragua have always been in its own territory and in safeguard of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Naval Forces of the Army of Nicaragua is handling the situation with firmness and prudence, and in faithful compliance with international standards.

Government of Reconciliation
and National Unity
Republic of Nicaragua
Managua, 6th February, 2022

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