Arbitral Award of President Grover Cleveland (1888)
An international ruling that consolidated borders… and deepened a historical silence
The Cleveland Arbitral Award, issued on March 22, 1888, by the President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, is one of the most decisive diplomatic documents for understanding the legal and territorial history between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. At the request of both nations, Cleveland acted as an arbitrator to interpret the Cañas–Jerez Treaty of 1858, especially regarding the navigation of the San Juan River, the sovereignty of its waters, and the rights associated with its use.
The ruling confirmed the full validity of the Cañas–Jerez Treaty and clarified several essential points:
- Sovereignty over the San Juan River belongs to Nicaragua,
but Costa Rica retains navigation rights for commercial purposes, provided they do not transport troops or war material. - Costa Rica has the right to intervene when Nicaragua intends to build canals, works, or diversion works that affect navigability or Costa Rican interests in the river.
- Nicaragua, for its part, cannot unilaterally alter the natural regime of the San Juan to the detriment of Costa Rican rights.
This Award became the interpretative pillar of the San Juan river regime for more than a century, and continues to be cited in contemporary decisions—including the Hague proceedings of the 21st century—as a binding reference for both States.
Cleveland and the silence on the Transit Campaign
What is even more revealing, especially in light of the trilogy, is what the Award does NOT mention.
Despite being issued only 31 years after the Transit Campaign (1856-1857), the ruling builds on a narrative framework where:
- the Costa Rican seizure of the steamboats,
- the temporary military control of the interoceanic corridor,
- the strategic presence of Máximo Blanco in the San Juan,
- and the geopolitical importance of the river blockade,
are completely absent.
This void cannot be explained by ignorance, as the United States closely followed the war of 1856–1857, and the Transit Route was vital to its interests. Rather, it reflected an inherited political silencing, initiated by the Costa Rican elites of the late 19th century and consolidated by the official narrative of the Second Republic.
The books -LasAguas Amargas del San Juan, Aguas Silenciadas and La Frontera del Agua-reconstruct precisely that dead zone of the legal and diplomatic discourse, demonstrating that the absence of the Transit Campaign in the subsequent territorial argumentation became a historical handicap for Costa Rica.
By excluding the military and strategic dimension of 1856 from the subsequent legal account, Costa Rica faced every litigation—including Cleveland’s—without using one of the most powerful arguments in its own history.
A key document for understanding the trilogy
Within the framework of the project:
- The Bitter Waters of the San Juan reconstructs the historical event that was not invoked in Cleveland.
- Silenced Waters explains how and why that narrative void occurred between the military campaign and the diplomacy of the 19th century.
- The Water Border analyzes the consequences of that omission in subsequent disputes:
from Cleveland to The Hague, passing through the Isla Calero dispute, the interpretation of navigation, and theinteroceanic canal projects.
The Cleveland Award is, in the trilogy, the bridge between silent triumph and blind diplomacy, between ignored military history and the century of arbitrations that determined the fate of the San Juan.
[
