TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduran President Porfirio Lobo yesterday said he had complained to El Salvador and Nicaragua about the presence of “threatening” boats in a shared gulf that gives the nations access to the Pacific Ocean.
In a statement posted on the president’s official website, Lobo said armed boats from Nicaragua and El Salvador in the Gulf of Fonseca had shown a “threatening posture” toward the Honduran Navy, but he did not offer more details.
Lobo also said he had received complaints this week from fishermen at the port of Amapala who alleged Nicaraguan and Salvadorian launches were interfering with their work.
Lobo called for a meeting with his Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega and Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes. The gulf, which the Central American nations all have access to, has been the scene of naval incidents between the three in the past. The International Court of Justice in 1992 ruled the three countries were to share control. El Salvador’s Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez responded to Lobo by saying his country’s armed forces were under strict orders to avoid any provocation in the Gulf of Fonseca.
“We see no reason to start disputes,” Martinez told reporters in San Salvador. “Great opportunities exist for us to develop the gulf jointly,” he added.
