In a diplomatic note sent by acting Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel Kautz to Costa Rica’s Rene Castro, the Managua government demands that “acts like this not be repeated.”

The note, which was posted on an official Web site, didn’t specify when or where the alleged incursions occurred.

In addition, “our government rejects the incursion in past days of Nicaraguan territory by two armed officers of the OIJ (Costa Rica’s investigative police), who were arrested during border monitoring activities and returned to Costa Rican authorities,” he said.

Coronel also “categorically rejected” the protest presented by San Jose on Oct. 21 over an “unacceptable violation of Costa Rican sovereignty.”

“All the activities directed at the fight against drug trafficking, as well as the cleanup of the San Juan River, have been performed on Nicaraguan territory,” Coronel said, referring to the river that forms the border between the two countries.

The Costa Rican government presented the formal protest over the alleged incursion of Nicaraguan military personnel into Costa Rican territory to conduct activities related to dredging the border river.

Coronel said that the cleanup was being performed “according to the established rights” in the applicable international treaties and conventions.

“Nicaragua, respectful of the principle of International Law, will continue with the cleanup work in the river and will protect the borders and sovereignty of Nicaragua,” the official said.

In the statement, the Nicaraguan government proposed that the binational commission, scheduled to meet again next month, take up the matter of discussing actions to clearly demarcate the border.