Did Google almost start a war?

Well, they certainly went to great lengths to explain an error in Google Maps which saw a Nicaraguan military unit on the wrong side of Nicaragua's border with defenseless Costa Rica.

Yesterday we became aware of a dispute that referenced the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua as depicted on Google Maps. This morning, after a discussion with the data supplier for this particular border (the U.S. Department of State), we determined that there was indeed an error in the compilation of the source data, by up to 2.7 kilometers. The U.S. Department of State has provided a corrected version and we are now working to update our maps.

Hmmm. That would be a bad thing if the Nicaraguan military was relying on Google Maps for accurate movement along the disputed border.
The international media ran with it and Google Maps was held out as the reason Eden Pastora, commander of a river dredging operation, had made an encampment on the wrong side of the border.

Except, that isn't really the case. Pastora denies the Google connection. He says that he was on Nicaraguan territory as prescribed by the Canas-Jerez Treaty of 1858. In short, Nicaragua claims sovereignty over the Rio San Juan.

So then Google jumps a little further and says they are going to change their map tout de suite.

Unlike the image above of our current depiction, the corrected version will follow the east bank of the San Juan River going northward, nearly to the Caribbean. It will then turn eastward and follow the southern shoreline of a large lagoon, Laguna los Portillos. This depiction follows the demarcation laid out in the First Award of Arbitration of 1897, which affirmed the Cañas-Jerez Treaty of 1858.

Hmmm. Not so fast there nerdville. This border dispute is long and complicated. And while Nicaragua was chastized by the UN for not meeting its obligations under the arbitrated Canas-Jerez Treaty, the sovereignty of the area is still pretty questionable.
But now Google has another problem. Nicaragua is saying the original Google Map is correct and not to make the changes described above. In fact, the border question is presently before the Organization of American States for resolution.

But here's where we are. Some yob in San Jose, after being apprised of the Nicaraguan encampment, (led by former guerrilla leader Commander Cero), takes a look at a Google Map and complains that Costa Rica has been invaded by Nicaragua, probably due to an error on that Google Map. (Hey! It's a mistake. Correct the map and Pastora will move out.)

Google gets all embarrassed and contrite, blames the US State Department for feeding them faulty information and offers to change the map.

Pastora snorts the thing off and holds out a 152 year old treaty suggesting that he didn't use Google Maps at all.

Nicaragua raises hell with Google for offering to change a map which the Nicaraguan government says is actually correct.

This will give rise to a whole new entity in the nerd world: Google Diplomacy.

And the global media is still wiping the egg off their faces.

Image courtesy of Search Engine Land.

Ex-Sandinista voted President of the UN General Assembly

Well, the US never much cared for the UN anyway.

In his inaugural speech, the Rev. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said member states had to unite against "acts of aggression, such as those occurring in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"The behavior of some member states has caused the United Nations to lose credibility as an organization capable of putting an end to war and eradicating extreme poverty from our planet."

Mr. d’Escoto, an American-born Roman Catholic priest, was Nicaragua’s foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista administration that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-90. During this time the U.S.-financed Contra rebels killed 40,000 Nicaraguans in their effort to overthrow the Sandinistas. D'Escoto took the US to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for arming Contra rebels and won, a victory the US has never acknowledged.

In a 2004 interview on Democracy Now, d'Escoto called Ronald Reagan an "international outlaw" and "the butcher of my people."
"Because of Reagan and his spiritual heir George W. Bush, the world today is far less safe and secure than it has ever been," he said.

Cross-posted at Creekside

The dead from Hurricane Felix wash up on the beaches

Some people just couldn't get out of the way. When Hurricane Felix made landfall on the coast of Nicaragua the residents of the Miskito Keys had not evacuated and took the cyclone full force.

The number of people killed when Hurricane Felix tore into the border area of Nicaragua and Honduras this week has jumped to at least 130, a Nicaraguan rescue official said on Friday.

"We have around 130 corpses listed," civil defense official Fabio Benedic said. The dead were mainly Nicaraguan Miskito Indians, including some fishermen whose bodies washed up in Honduras.

Benedic said about 70 people were believed missing after high waves drowned fishermen, battered coastal villages and devastated islets known as the Miskito Keys.

A Nicaraguan newspaper said the death toll was 168.

Hundreds of people did not evacuate before the storm and had only their flimsy wooden shacks for shelter. Some tied themselves to trees or boats in a bid to withstand Felix's 160-mph (256-kph) winds, local fisherman said.

The Scotsman provides a little more detail.

Nicaraguan villagers spent four days in shark-infested seas clinging to driftwood or smashed houses and boats after Hurricane Felix battered the Caribbean coast, survivors said on Saturday.

A Nicaraguan navy patrol boat brought 40 men and one woman ashore in the port of Puerto Cabezas after plucking them out of the sea or whisking them from battered, isolated islands.

Some survivors, mostly lobster divers who were at sea when the deadly Category 5 storm hit, lived to tell their tale by tying themselves to floating wood as they were battered by Felix's 160 mph (260-kph) winds and mammoth waves.

"It was a plank, a plank just like this one," said Onesio Perez, pointing to the planks of the dock, his arms covered with rope burns from strapping himself to the wood, as he stepped ashore at this Caribbean port.

Another survivor, Kelvin Ortega, said he spent four days floating on a piece of driftwood.

Hurricane Felix tore into the border area of Nicaragua and Honduras this week and killed at least 130 people. The dead were mainly Nicaraguan Miskito Indians, including some fishermen whose bodies washed up in Honduras.

There is something of a question here. The Miskito Keys are isolated and to have evacuated them ahead of the arrival of Felix would have been a relatively large undertaking. Issuing nothing more than an evacuation order would have been quite pointless since those living in the Miskito Keys have no means of mass evacuation on hand and literally, no place to go.

Did anyone offer them a means to escape?

UNICEF is reporting that the death toll will probably rise as the rescue brigades arrive in the area.

According to the Nicaraguan Civil Defence Force, over 34,000 people have been affected by Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua's northern Caribbean region and 8,441 houses were damaged. These figures are likely to increase as the rescue brigades reach communities isolated by the rain and swollen rivers.

Unless I've missed something, it would appear that getting help to the affected areas is still a problem. The government of Nicaragua has asked for US military help and the US has sent a ship, helicopters and troops. Venezuela has sent emergency food supplies to the area. The question remains, however, what was done to get people out of the way of a well reported and sufficiently forecast killer hurricane?

The residents of Puerto Cabezas are complaining they weren't given enough warning of the impending arrival of Felix and are getting too little aid from Managua in its wake.

Tensions are rising between residents of the autonomous region hit by the storm and the central government are rising as villagers complain they weren't given enough advance warning about the monster storm and are getting little aid in its aftermath.

A minimum of 36 hours existed between international warning issued and Felix's landfall. In fact, by September 1st, computer models and forecasters were providing alerts indicating that Felix would be heading straight for Central America.

Sigh.

(H/T Eugene)