By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Costa Rica of discriminating against Nicaraguan Immigrants, the Foreign Ministry announced yesterday.

The suit, filed by the Nicaraguan government in February 2005, accused the Costa Rican government of denying Nicaraguan immigrants their basic rights. The suit was based on the deaths of two Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica in 2005 and was the first time the IACHR heard a case presented by one country against another.

“We are pleased by this resolution,” said Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno in a press conference yesterday afternoon.

The ruling sends “a conclusive message on the history of solidarity of the Costa Rican people with Nicaraguans, and proves wrong the unjust accusations of supposed xenophobia and discrimination made by the former Nicaraguan governmen, ” he added.

The minister explained that the 72-page IACHR ruling listed various reasons why Nicaragua’s case was inadmissible. One principal reason was because the internal means of justice had not been exhausted when the suit was presented, Stagno emphasized.

Nicaragua filed the suit in February 2006, based on the deaths of two Nicaraguans immigrants – one who had been mauled to death by two Rottweiler guard dogs in November 2005 (TT, Nov. 18, 2005), and a second who had been murdered in December 2005 (TT, Dec. 9, 2005). Stagno pointed out two months was not long enough to give the Costa Rican system a chance to act.