At a press conference, it was said that the Canadian mining company took the initiative and Costa Rica simply “decided to accompany”, but Comex only said that “we maintain increasingly positive expectations.”
The scant and very opaque information that has emerged about the apparent decision of the Canadian mining company Infinito Gold to withdraw from the arbitration process that it has so far maintained against Costa Rica generates suspicion and distrust.
The only information that has emerged from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is that the official website of the process states very briefly since June 14 that: “the parties submit a request for the discontinuation of the process in accordance with ICSID arbitration rules 53 and 43(1).”
Announcement that generates more doubt than certainty, especially because as explained by public international law professor Nicolás Boeglin, the articles cited there would not be those applicable to the specific case.
Last Wednesday, in a press conference and in response to a question from Radio Universidad’s Interferencia media outlet, Rodrigo Chaves stated that “this is not a consolidated fact yet, because the court has not resolved anything, Infinito Gold just told us that they wanted to renounce the award, to ask us for $400 million in compensation for the slaps that were taken first by Óscar Arias and then by certain deputies of the Frente Amplio, extreme environmentalists.”
He added that “when the ICSID ruling is consolidated, we will give the statements that need to be given, with respect not only to the award but also to what follows in Crucitas.”
At that time, the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Indiana Trejos, appeared a little more confident when she stated that “Infinito Gold did request to terminate the process, which Costa Rica also decided to do. This puts an end to ten years of litigation, the most expensive litigation that Costa Rica has faced,” and added that this is “excellent news.”
According to him, the final decision of the ICSID will probably be issued in four weeks.
This Thursday, after making a query on the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex), a response was obtained that was even more concise than the information from ICSID: “Regarding the dispute between Industrias Infinito and the Costa Rican State, we maintain increasingly positive expectations about a favorable outcome for the interests of Costa Rica in this long dispute.”
For his part, environmental lawyer Álvaro Sagot considered as “an extremely important aspect” the question of whether there was a withdrawal on the part of the company “pure and simple”, or if there was a withdrawal “agreement” “where both parties gave up something, Or what happened between Costa Rica and the company?”
“I ask the question for the following reason: I have seen this in my professional practice. As a lawyer, when I tell and authorize a client to give in, I simply do not advise them to give in 100% and I tell them to condition the withdrawal on certain benefits in order to gain something,” he explained.
“I wonder: Does a millionaire mining company reconcile and renounce all its rights just like that? The truth is, the uncertainty is quite great and we do not know what exists and what Costa Rica committed to,” she noted.
He added that “those doubts are the most important now and no one has yet gone into the part of demanding that Comex say what is happening and what consequences an agreement has for Costa Rica. Did Costa Rica commit to anything? “Will the miners at least pay the legal costs and fees of our lawyers to reach that conciliation?”
