Martinelli ready to challenge International Court decision

PRESIDENT Ricardo Martinelli plans to fight a judgment of the International Court of Justice that transfers control of part of the Caribbean Sea to Nicaragua.

He said Wednesday, September 11, that Nicaragua aims to "take the Panamanian territorial seas."

Therefore, he said that his government will fight alone or together with other countries to prevent it.
"We are going to fight as a country, either individually or jointly, because we cannot let Nicaragua, which is very far from here, take the Panamanian territorial seas," Martinelli said.
Martinelli's comments come after Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos called a ruling by the International Court of Justice that transferred part of the Caribbean Sea to Nicaragua "irrelevent." Bogota has exercised sovereignty over that área since November 2012.
Santos has said that the expansionist interests of Nicaragua in the Caribbean have also affected countries like Panama, Costa Rica and Jamaica, nations with which Colombia has maritime boundaries.
Colombia will deliver a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon protesting the decisión.
Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega said on Tuesday that he is willing to negotiate a treaty with Colombia, but with the "sole purpose of enforcing the mandate" of the court.