Honduran base shrunk to allay Managua's concern
Expressions of Nicaraguan concern have led the Honduran government to retract the hype with which it had presented the planned Mosquitia base, to be built with US assistance, and re-present it as a mere refuelling facility. In Nicaragua, meanwhile, the media have been playing up Managua's grievances against Honduras regarding the dispute between the two countries over navigation rights on the Coco river.
On 23 July the Honduran defence minister, Arístides Mejía, stated that what the government plans to build in the Mosquitia region is not a military base but 'a refuelling facility to redirect our response capacity, together with the US, to the problems of drug trafficking'. His point was that, as it was not a base, there had been no need to inform Nicaragua under the existing confidence-building agreements. Actually, the government has been the victim of its own hype: at the outset it had described the project - a trade-off for converting Palmerola to civilian use - as non-permanent facilities.
The Nicaraguan media have been highlighting alleged Honduran military incursions into the Nicaraguan southern stretch of the Coco river, eliciting confirmation from the Nicaraguan military of this fact (which, read carefully, keeps the Honduran military on their northern stretch of the river, albeit close to the Leymus border post).