On 12 April Costa Rica and Nicaragua held their first formal bilateral meeting since their territorial dispute began last October. The only thing on which they agreed was the date of their next meeting. Earlier in the month the dispute had spiked again when Nicaragua sought to prevent an inspection of Isla Portillos by Ramsar Convention experts.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its 8 March ruling, had made one exception to its order barring both sides from sending military or civilian personnel to the disputed island: the dispatch of environmental experts to prevent irreparable damage to the disputed wetlands, on the condition that this personnel be accompanied by personnel of the Ramsar Convention and that the other party be notified in advance.

Costa Rica notified Nicaragua on 30 March that Ramsar experts would be inspecting the area where it alleges that harm has already been done to the wetlands. Nicaragua objected on the grounds that this visit would breach the ICJ ruling, and subsequently announced that it would issue formal protests and denounce what it described as a Costa Rican ‘provocation'.

The inspection began on 5 April, but on the following day the helicopter carrying the Ramsar experts was prevented from landing by a group of militants of the Sandinista youth engaging in a ‘peaceful reaffirmation of sovereignty'. This notwithstanding, the Costa Rican government described the inspection as a success. Costa Rica issued a formal protest against Nicaragua for obstructing the inspection.

Nicaragua proceeded to denounce Costa Rica for ‘repeatedly' violating its airspace on 5-6 April with its own helicopters and those identified as belonging to the Ramsar Convention. On 6 April, at the inauguration of the new term at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua in León, President Daniel Ortega accused Costa Rica of refusing to dialogue and seeking to draw both countries into a ‘major confrontation'. He said that Costa Rica had not given up its intention to annex areas in Nicaragua such as Rivas, Granada, the San Juan river and Lake Granada ‘as they did in 1857' — the latter being an allusion to the episode in which the inhabitants of the disputed border territory of Guanacaste voted in a plebiscite to be incorporated into Costa Rica.

On 12 April the deputy foreign ministers of Costa Rica and Nicaragua sat down at Peñas Blancas, each at a table on his side of the border, in the presence of the Mexican and Guatemalan deputy foreign ministers. After two hours they issued the ‘Declaration of Peñas Blancas' containing the only agreement they had reached: the date and venue of their next meeting: 5 May in Guatemala.

Resolution of the dispute over Isla Portillos will take its time. On 14 April the ICJ set the calendar for the first hearing of the substantive phase of the suit brought by Costa Rica against Nicaragua. The former has until 5 December to present its case on 5 December 2011, the latter until 6 August 2012 for its response.

Another ICJ decision involving both countries will be handed down earlier, on 4 May. It involves a Costa Rican request to be heard in the case brought by Nicaragua against Colombia over maritime jurisdictions (as well as a Honduran request to be accepted as a party to the case). Nicaragua has objected to both requests, and accused both countries of conspiring with Colombia.