Nicaragua Frees 100 Fishermen Held in Feud With Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Nicaragua has released 100 Honduran fishermen it detained for as long as six months after they were allegedly caught fishing in Nicaraguan waters, the Honduran government said Thursday.

The men, along with 50 boats, were seized from June to November in the Gulf of Fonseca, a stretch of the Pacific coast where the two countries’ territorial limits are in dispute.

Nicaragua had demanded that the men pay a fine of $300 per boat. But in a move that Honduran Foreign Ministry spokesman Luis Torres called “surprising,” Managua released the fishermen and their vessels without payment.

“Nicaragua has reduced lately the practice of detaining Honduran fishermen,” Torres said. “That is a positive development.”

Honduran fishermen maintain that they were detained while in Honduran waters, but Nicaragua says they were picked up in Nicaraguan territory.

The dispute has strained relations between the countries for years. After Honduras recognized a Colombian claim on another stretch of water in 1999, Nicaragua imposed tariffs on Honduran goods in retaliation.