Honduras says that one of the Colombian fishing boats detained by Nicaragua last week, was picked up by the Nicaraguan navy in Hondurean waters.
A letter, sent Monday and made public Wednesday, was sent by Honduras’ foreign ministry to Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos, protesting the matter.
According to the letter, Colombian vessel the “Laura Anny” was detained on April 22, in waters designated as Hondurean by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2007. Prior to the ruling, Honduras and Nicaragua disputed which nation had jurisdiction over the area.
Honduras protested the “arbitrary detention” of the Colombian boat and crew in its waters and asked Nicaragua to respect the ICJ’s ruling.
Nicaragua had previously confirmed it had detained three Colombian fishing boats, their crews and fishermen on board late last week, but claims they were in Nicaraguan waters.
Several of the detained Colombians have complained of mistreatment by Nicaraguan authorities, saying that the situation amounted to “kidnapping.”
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry Tuesday sent a letter to Nicaragua, protesting against the Laura Anny’s “illegal” detention by the Central American country.
The letter does not mention the other two Colombian fishing boats and crew reportedly also detained last Friday.
There is a long-running dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua over maritime rights. Nicaragua announcedin April 2008 that it would detain any Colombian fishing boats that entered the disputed area in the Caribbean.
Relations between the nations became frosty after the Nicaraguan government gave asylum to three guerrillas from the FARC and a Mexican female student, the only survivors of the Colombian military’s attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador on March 1, 2008.