Nicaragua invades Costa Rica due to Google error
A Nicaraguan military commander recently invaded Costa Rican territory, and ordered troops to take down a Costa Rican flag and replace it with Nicaragua's. Was this the work of a brash commander, going rogue on his superiors? A new policy of Nicaraguan imperialism? Neither. The incident was caused by an error in Google Maps. [...] commander Eden Pastora blamed the incursion on a misleading border on Google Maps that was off by some 3000 meters.
La Nación points to a disparity between the borders on Bing and Google. We've highlighted the area in question:
Thanks Austin Carr.
You still don't have it right. The area in question is a tiny islane, Calera, in the middle of the San Juan River, which has recently been declared Nicaragua's, with navigational rights for Costa Rica.
Costa Rica has not taken this ruling well. They are upset that Nicaragua has plans to develop tourism and a hydroelectric project on their river. This whole made up "invasion" is an attempt to delay or sabotage Nicaragua's plans. CR is jealous that Nicaragua's tourism is on the rise while their own is in decline.
Eden Pastora is not a military commander at all. He is in charge of the dredging operation that CR is trying to stop, in any way they can. He has no "troops".
There are Nicaraguan Army and Naval personnel in the area to combat drug trafficking from Costa Rica. They have not set foot on the Costa Rican side of the river and only a few have been stationed on the island in dispute.
This tiny island was ceded to Nicaragua by treaty hundreds of years ago, but a squatter from CR is claiming it as his own and he is the source of the claims of "invasion". The whole argument of what Google or Bing show to be the border came about long after Costa Rica rushed the dredging boat with personnel clad in Army fatigues and armed with machine guns and M-16s - not what most people think of when the hear "police force".
Costa Rica continues the myth that they have "no army" by calling it something else. They are trained and equiped as if they were an army, by the US and Israel, but they like to put that old myth out there. The provocative act of sending these militarily armed men to accost an unarmed dredging boat should be the big story here, but hey, don't let the facts confuse you.
It appears that the US and Costa Rica are setting up a scenario painting Nicaragua as an agressor and CR as a victim in need of yet another military "intervention" by the US military.