The next shot in the battle over the border has been fired by Nicaragua. According to Jaime Incer, the Environmental Adviser to President Daniel Orgtega, the new border road south of the San Juan River is an invitation to drug smugglers to infiltrate north from Costa Rica to Nicaragua.
“I call it a narco-road, because that is what in the end will be the most important contribution of Costa Rica to the international fight against drug trafficking,” said Incer.
He also went on to talk about the environmental damages the road building has caused and praised the Nicaraguan government for instituting a SINAPRED Disaster Prevention Yellow Alert.
The Nica position is that the runoff from the construction is destroying the navigability of the river and harming wildlife. They also are not impressed with Costa Rica’s mitigation response and accuse the Ticos of downplaying the disaster to avoid responsibility.
Incer also intimated that Costa Rica’s road building exercise was an act of vengeance against Nicaragua over the long running border dispute now being mediated in the Hague.
