US embassy cable - 05LIMA5145

UNCLAS LIMA 005145 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PE, CI, EC 
SUBJECT: PERU REJECTS ECUADORIAN-CHILEAN POSITION ON 
MARITIME LIMITS 
 
REF: A. LIMA 5037 
     B. LIMA 4662 
     C. SANTIAGO 2440 
 
1.  The Foreign Ministry, on 12/1, issued a communique 
rejecting the position taken by Ecuadorian President Alfredo 
Palacios and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos in their Joint 
Declaration on regional maritime limits issued that same day 
in Quito.  According to media reports, the Ecuadorian and 
Chilean leaders declared their, "firm adhesion to the 
treaties and other instruments regarding the Pacific 
South-East, in particular the Declaration on a Maritime Zone 
of 1952 and the Convention on a Special Frontier Maritime 
Zone of 1954, which establish the maritime delimitation 
between the parties through the geographic parallel." 
 
2.  The Peruvian communique in response reads as follows: 
 
"With respect to the Joint Declaration that the Presidents of 
Chile and Ecuador signed, on this date, in the city of Quito, 
the Government of Peru reiterates its Official Communique 
RE/13-05, of November 25, 2005, and reaffirms that the 
Declaration on a Maritime Zone of 1952 and the Convention on 
a Special Maritime Zone of 1954, to which Peru is a party, 
are not treaties on maritime limits. 
 
In this sense, the affirmation contained in paragraph 6 of 
the cited Joint Declaration with respect to the claim that 
the international instruments referred to establish the 
maritime delimitation between the parties through the 
geographic parallel, is an interpretation that is not in 
conformance with international law and, therefore, lacks all 
juridical effect." 
 
3.  The Foreign Ministry's communique referred to its prior 
communique on this issue (RE/13-05).  That communique was 
issued in response to a Joint Communique issued by the 
Ecuadorian and Chilean Foreign Ministers on 11/25.  As with 
the 12/1 Joint Declaration, the 11/25 Ecuadorian-Chilean 
Joint Communique declared that the 1952 and 1954 agreements 
delimited maritime limits, and the answering Peruvian 
communique rejected this interpretation, which it argued, 
"lacks all juridical effect."  This Peruvian communique also 
stated that, "The allusion to the geographic parallel as a 
method of maritime delimitation is only applicable on the 
Peruvian-Ecudorian frontier with respect to the existence of 
islands.  The Government of Peru reiterates that no maritime 
limit controversy exists with Ecuador.  Peru only has a 
maritime delimitation controversy on its southern frontier. 
The controversy referred to has been recognized by the 
Government of Chile and is being addressed by the respective 
diplomatic channels and eventually will be addressed by the 
corresponding jurisdictional channels, in conformance with 
international law." 
 
4.  COMMENT:  While the Peruvian Foreign Ministry was quick 
to react to the Ecuadorian-Chilean Joint Declaration's 
reference to regional maritime delimitation with an answering 
communique, GOP officials refrained from making public 
comments on the issue.  As the Foreign Ministry noted in its 
11/25 communique, the Peruvian Government appears content to 
handle this issue in diplomatic and legal channels, rather 
than renew the political aspects of the dispute (Refs).  END 
COMMENT. 
POWERS