Dictator Daniel Ortega and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández during the signing of the treaty. Photo: The 19th Digital.
The former Honduran president, convicted of drug trafficking, traveled to Managua in 2021 to sign the treaty with the Nicaraguan dictator. On Tuesday, the deputies ratified it behind closed doors
The National Congress of Honduras ratified the maritime boundary treaty in the Gulf of Fonseca signed between Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on October 27, 2021 in Managua.
According to Honduran media, the agreement entitled “Integrationary Treaty of the Bicentenary” was ratified with the approval of 122 congressmen on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 late at night and behind closed doors, because the president of Congress, Luis Redondo, ordered the departure of journalists and guests present at the session on the grounds that it was a discussion of a national security issue, according to local media.
The eighth item of the agreement signed between Hernández and Ortega states that it would be subject to ratification by the National Assembly of Nicaragua and the National Congress of Honduras and subsequently manage its registration with the General Secretariat of the United Nations (UN)
In Nicaragua, the National Assembly ratified it on October 28, 2021. I mean, one day after the signing in Managua.
“Our fishermen are going to have defined their area of work in the Gulf of Fonseca and Honduras is left with access to the maritime platform and I think it brings many benefits to the country,” Carlos Zelaya, Secretary of the National Congress, told Honduran media after the session.
For his part, the Honduran Foreign Minister, Eduardo Enrique Reina, applauded the ratification of the treaty with Nicaragua.
Yesterday (Tuesday) on instructions from President Xiomara Castro, we appeared before the National Congress in a historic session for the rights and national sovereignty of Honduras. “Treaty of boundaries between the Republic of Honduras and the Republic of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and waters outside the Gulf of Fonseca” was unanimously ratified, Reina said on her X-area.
Juan Orlando Hernandez traveled to Managua to the signing of the treaty
On 27 October 2021, Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández – recently found guilty in a New York court on drug trafficking charges – signed the treaty in which both parties ratified their maritime border in the Gulf of Fonseca in accordance with the 1992 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
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According to Daniel Ortega’s regime, with the measure, Nicaragua recognizes Honduras’ sovereignty over the Gulf of Fonseca. On that occasion, Ortega said he invited El Salvador to participate in the signing to complete the conflict.
“We invite the government of El Salvador to join this effort, because El Salvador is obliged to agree to delimit,” Ortega said, noting that there were difficulties in agreeing with the authorities of that country.
The agreement, in point 7, states that both Honduras and Nicaragua can invite El Salvador to be part of the agreements.
Today the brotherly peoples of Honduras and Nicaragua, we are making history, history building integration, based on dialogue, on the bonds of friendship to promote peace and development in the region. “The integrationist dream of General Francisco Morazán, is getting closer,” Hernandez said on October 27, 2021.
Treaty provides for clearer delimitations
El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua share a way out of the Gulf of Fonseca, although before this treaty, the Nicaraguan state recognized these maritime rights to Honduras.
The treaty also establishes the land boundary with coordinates 83rd. 186o W 15o 0o 13.522 N which will be reviewed every ten years from its date of validity. For this reason, according to the fifth point of the agreement, Honduras has the exit to the Gulf that extends from Punta Amapala to Punta Cosigoina.
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Point 4 provides that the parties recall that the judgment of the International Court of Justice of 11 September 1992 recognizes the existence of a tripartite presence in the waters on the central portion of the closing line of the Gulf of Fonseca and in the waters outside it until a delimitation of the Gulf of Fonseca was carried out.
In addition, paragraph 7 states that the Gulf of Fonseca and its inland waters to the closing line will continue to be recognized as a historic bay and the rights of coastal States to its use, including navigation, will continue to be respected.
In 1957 Honduras and Nicaragua filed their dispute with the International Court of Justice over the implementation of the 1906 Award, under the auspices of the Organization of American States. On 18 November 1960, the Court decided that the award of the King of Spain was binding in all its parts
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in La Prensa NI