SANTO DOMINGO.- The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Álvarez, defended and explained this Thursday the maritime delimitation agreement between the Dominican Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, pointing out that the country gained 11 nautical miles of sea, which would be equivalent to 37 square kilometers if it were on land.
Given the complaints that the Dominican Republic would be “giving away” maritime territory, Álvarez assured that this statement is completely false. Furthermore, he stressed that “those people who are saying that do not know what they are talking about.”
The chancellor also explained that the starting point for the negotiations was based on the maritime delimitation agreements established in 1978 with Colombia and in 1979 with Venezuela, which served as a reference to begin the delimitation process.
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«To those people who say that we give away the sea, that is totally false of all falsehood. But not only do we not give away sea, but in the negotiations we gain sea,” he expressed.
He said that the Negotiating Commission created by decree in 2018 by then-president Danilo Medina decided to sign that agreement based on the terms established regarding equity, which are to build a median or equidistant line, determine if there are geographical circumstances or anomalous situations and proportionality.
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«This commission fulfilled its constitutional duty. We comply with the rules of international law. “We achieved the best possible agreement according to article 9 of the Magna Carta, the best possible terms for the Dominican Republic under the law of the sea, as established by the Constitution,” he said.
He said that now it will be up to President Luis Abinader to decide when to send the agreement to the National Congress for approval.
The Fuerza del Pueblo party denounced that in the agreement, signed by Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez, the government gave up an important part of its territorial waters off its southern coast, in the Caribbean Sea, in favor of the islands Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire, property of the Kingdom of the Netherlands located north of Venezuela.
It is recalled that the Constitutional Court (TC) issued a ruling on October 18 declaring the Agreement between the Dominican Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Maritime Legitimation in accordance with the Constitution.
Manolo Pichardo Secretary of International Affairs of the FP, He emphasized that the ruling of the TC, number TC/0547/24 contradicts the spirit of the Magna Carta in its article 9, which establishes the inalienability of the national territory.
He expressed that the agreement violates the “Principle of Equity”, which should prevail in the delimitation of maritime borders, as established by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which the Dominican Republic is subscribed. .
On the other hand, the ruling of the TC is based on the «Principle of Equidistance”, used in previous agreements with Colombia and Venezuela in the 70s, when the legal framework that regulates these matters currently did not yet exist.
