Comments in writing of the Republic of Nicaragua on the Honduran Government's written reply to the question put by Judge ad hoc Gaja at the public sitting held on 16 March 2007

EMRASSYOF NICARAGUA
THE HAGUE

14April2007

Sir,

I have the honouto referto yourletterdated29 March 2007 in relationtothe
case concerning mrjtime Delimitationktween Nicara~ua and I-Ionduras in the
CnribIx~n_Y_(eN>icaragua,.Monduca!), by whichyou inform me that thcI'rcsidenthas
fixcclMonday 16 April, as timc-limit for transmittinNicaragua's observationson

Hond~irasw' ritten repto thequestionput by Judge Gaja atthepublic sittingheldon
16March 2007,

o Observationson Honduras'written reply to the questionput by Judge
Gajaatthepublic sittinheldon 16 March 2007:

1. I-ionduras aintainethe positionas latasMarch 2002 in itsCounterMemorial
(p. 14,ff .) that "Lugrvood and Medin Luna Cay are both now submerged".

Five years later,upon heing asked by the benchabout the situatioof these
Cays, Hondurasconfirms itslackOFknowledge andcontrolof the areaby not
having a ready or even approximate answer to the questionbasedon actual
physicalcontrolof the areaThus I-londurastriedtoanswerthe question firstly
by presentingthedubiousresultsofa singlespeciallyselectedsatelliimage of
the areathat,forthereasons indicatein the Nicaraguanlettcron this question

filed on5 Apriljastactuallypointedto a differentconclusionthanthatoffered
by Honduras. That isthat both Caywere infactsubmerged.

2. Conscious of the inevitableimpression that this ignoranof the area would

cause. Honduras has finallydescended fromthe realm of satellii mtegesin
outerspaceand has belatedly triedto investigatein situ tsituationofthese
Cays. This investigationhas impliedthepresentationof new evidenceat this
very latc stage otheproceedings.And what isastonishinginthisaffair isthat
this new evidence is not relatedwith an unexpected and irrelevantquestion

posedbythe benchatthelast moment b.utisfundamentallyrelatedto aquestionEMBASSYOF hTCARAGUA
THEHAGUE
thatgoes directlto theheartofthe claim of Honduras fhatithas "traditionally"
exercisedsovcrcignty inthearea indispute.Itisevidencethatwould and should

have been opponunely before the Court ifHondurashadtruly the knowledge
and physical control of the area in dispute it has claimed during these
proceedings,

3. Nicaragua foritspart hasalwaysindicated thatthe feat~lreinvolvedin thearea
indisputeare veryminor andhave notbeen subjecttorigorou~cantrnlor use by
any authorityThis can be graphicallyappreciated fromthe photos provided hy
I-londuraof their expeditionItisevident from thephotos thatwhen rhe tide is
up and the observerisstandinginwater, I,ogwood Cay will beaboutthe sizeof

a football!

4. Honduraso ,n theotherhand.hasboasted of itknowledge of the areaand even
claimed greatconsequence srom the facthatcertainor itslegislationincludea

mention of Palode Carnpeche Cay before 1982.Honduras has turnedaside any
doubtsaboutthe identityof this "Palode Campeche" insistingthatitobviousIy
isthesame Logwood Cay thatappearsin thewell knownchartsof thcarea. The
extentof itknowledge ofthe arcaand ofitsfeaturesand theweight thatcan be
attributed toitsidentificatioof Palo de:Campeche with Lagwood may he

,iudeedbythe issuespresentlyunderdiscztssion.

Some of thesratementsmadebyHondurasinthiswritten replytothe questionof Judse

Gajamerit specialcomments:

1. Inparagraph2, Honduras indicatesthatinorderto gatherthe evidence it:is
providing the Court,it made a visithy airon the 21 of March lastand a

second visitby sea on 23 March and finallya third visit 'bysea on 30
March. Nonetheless,the evidence offered by Honduras is limitedto that
gathered on thethirdvisitand noreferenceis made to theresultsofthe iIrs2
two visits. It wouldhavebeen interestingtothe question asked by Judge
Gaja if information had kcn providedon what thesituationof rheCays

was onthcfirsttwo visits.

2. Inparagraph 6,Mondum providesthecoordinates ofthe reaturevisitedby

theexped~tionit mounted.These coordinatesdo not correspond with those
ofthechartedfeatureknownas "Logmood Cay"hut are reallythoseof "theEMBASSYOF NICARAGUA
THE HAGUE
only isleainclose proximityto the name Logwoad Cay". Hondurasalso

points out tha"'thevariancebetweenthe charted position andtheactual
position asobsemed isless thanone nauticalmile.'' Apartfrom these
comments from the Honduranside,the technicaladvisersof Nicaragufind
that thepositionsgiven seem slightlstrange. They do not appear to he
based onGPS which would be expected to bequoted athigherprecision.

The position quoted for Logwood Cay (ISo11'30"N; R2"41 '45"W) plots
about 500m SiV of thecay as depictedon the satellite imageandabout
150Om SS\XJ of the positiochartedon BA2425. The conclusion ob the
Nicasaguan technical advisersisthat Honduras has found a new small
featurethat driesperhapsa chunk of coral brokenoffandrolledonto the

plateauina stormand that will begonaRerthe next stom.

3. In paragraph8 Honduras mistakenly aff?rmsthat"there ino disagreement
between the parties that the evidence before the Courtindicatedthat

Lopvood Cay (Cayo Palo de Campeche) and Media Luna Cays were
islandsirrtealio inthe period from 1936 to 1982,when they were first
referredto in Honduranlegislationandthe Constitution."This is not true.
Thereis no single shredofevidence hefore:the Courtindicatingthathese
featureswere islands inthe period mentioned. On the other hand. the

importance ofthe mentionof "a" Palo de Campeche Cay inthe Honduran
Legislation of 1936 would have been irrelevantfor Nicaragua since it
wouldnot have knownwhat this"important"featurwas allabout.Besides,
Nicamgua was claiming and occupying substantialpartsof present day
Honduran territolrup to the 1960's and had small cause to pay any
attention to claim by TIondurasof a Cay itwould not have been able to

clearlyidentfv Even ifthe NicaraguanAuthoritieshad been awarein 1936
that the referencereallywas to Lo,wood Cay.thiscould only have caused
hilarityinNicaraguathatsuchafeatureshoulddeserve aspecialmentionin
theHonduran LegislationincludingitConstitution!

'bJlec~nclwsionto he gathered based solelyon the informationprovidedby
Honduras is thatMediaLuna Cay ispermanentlysubmergedas is also the
featurechartedasLopvoodCay. Additionally.ian areanear to Logwood Cay
there mayatpresentbesomeloose coratvisiblealow tide.

Nicaraguan inspectio,f theareavisitebyHonduras

Aflerreceivinga copy of thenew evidence filedbyHonduras with relatioto
Logwood and Media Luna Cays, Nicaragua requested the Nava! Force of the EmRASSY OF NICARAGUA

THE HAGUE,
Nicaraguan Army to inspecttheareavisited by theHonduran naval forcesat Latitude
1Sol1'30" North and Longitude082'43'50" West.Thisinvestigationwas carried out
duringaroutinevisit ofthcarea by naval pazrolson 12April2007. Thedescription of
this visiofinspecti aondits resulltsare given awrittenstatement made by Frigate

CaptainDEM of the NicaraguanNavalForces,FranciscoJavierVallejos Para-ion'This
writtenstatementwas made heforea Notary Public anda copyisannexed to thisletter.

Inthis statement,CaptaiParaiontellsthat

"they set sailfrom the Naval Base located in Puerto Cabems in the Worth
AtlanticAutonomous Re~ion of Nicaragua.at3:00 AM on 12April2007. thisbeingthe
lastplanned tripforthefirsttrimestenf the year2007...and arrived a9:00 AM at the
positionof Latitude 15'11'00"N, Longitude082'43'50'' W."

Captain Parnjongoes onto saythat,

"After the anchoringmaneuver which lasted approximately ten rninutes. we
proceeded to transfethe personnelwith theirtechnical equipmenton board the Speed
Boat (Lancha Rapida)067, and headed tothe position ofLat. 15"11'30'3, Long.
082'41'45"Wwith variabledirectionat minimumspeed due tothe scantdepth ofwater
in thatarca,and reaching the positionbefore indicatedanine hours twenty minutes
(9321 3ours)andremainedon that positionuntil thirteen hou(13:00hours).We could

note a reef that permanently underwater duringhightide: during low tide there as
smallareauncoveredof which digital and film impressionswere taken.The positioning
of thereefwas madewithGPS equipment(global PositioningSystem),withthe method
or Horizontal Datum, World Geodesic System of 1984. known by its English initialas
WGS-84. Wc remainedfor thrce hours and forty minutes in the po5ition of Lat.

15"11'30" N, Long. 082"41'45" W, and again boardedCoast Guard 203 and initiated
our navigationalreturnatthirteehours andeight minutes(13:08 hours)..."

The Nicarasuan Naval authorities have given us a copy of this statement
together with a video and photographstaken during the inspection. This material is
annexed to thisletter. Due to the short time avaiforthe organizationof this naval

inspectionand the preparatioof this material.we have not been able to proviaf~ll
translationofthematerial but willdo so as soonas itis available. Nonetheless. the
pertinent panofthe writtenstatementhas beentranscribed above and the photographs
andvideogenerallyspeakfor themselves. EMBASSY OF NICARAGUA

THE HAGUE

The conclusions fromtheNicaraguan inspectioare thattheareaidentifiedin
thecham asLogwood Cayis permanentlysubmergedT . herisa reefinthevicinityin
the coordinates Lat. 15'11'30" N., Long. 082'41'45" W. that ispermanentIy
submerged athightide.Thisfeaturecannotpropcrlybe regardedasan islanwithinthe

meaningof articl121 of thUnitedNations Convention onthe Law ofthe Sea.

AccegS Sirtheassurancesofmyh ighesconsidention.

CarlosJ.ARG~)E!,LGO~MEZ
Agent
Republicof Nicaragua

HisExcellency
Mr.Philippe Couvreur
Registrar
International Courof Justice
Peace Palace
The Hague EMBASSYOF NICARAGUA
THEHAGUE

The undersigned. Agent of the Republic of Nicamgua, in accordance with Article 51
paragraph 3of theRulesof the Court.certifithatthe documents containedin thifileand

listed hereunder,are true andaccutatccopies of theoriginal of thedocuments. These
docl~rncntare providedtothe Couztas partofthe observazionof Nicaragua onthe written
replyof klanduras tothe questionputby Judge ad hoc Gaja to both Partiesatthe public
sitting heldon 16 March 2007 in the caseconcerning Mnrititn~ dclimitnrinn hehibeen
ATicuragtirndHond1rra.i cnhe Caribbean Sea Nicaun~un 1,Hondtwas).

List of documents

1. NotarialCertificatedated13April2007. issuedby Mr.RobertoDanilo Chac6n Rivns,

Notary Puh4ic:declaration ofMr. Francisco Javies Vallejos Parajhn,FrigaCaptain
DEM ofthe Nicaraguan Naval Forces(Annex 1)

2. Copiesof photographsof theareainspected(Annex 2).

3. Video ofthe areainspecte(Annex 3)

Inwitnesswhereof. 1issuethiscertificatian 14 April2007.

CarlosJ. ARGOELL GQ~MEZ
Agent

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