GOE ISSUES DECREE ON STRAIGHT BASE LINES FOR TERRITORIAL SEA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000700080002-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 20, 1971
• Content Type: CABLE

Declassified and Approved For Release 201.2/12/15 : CIA-RDP08001297R000700080002-7
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SUGGESTED DISTRIBUTION
COPYFLO-PBR
HANDLING INDICATOR NO.
TO : Department of State
INFO : Amconsul GUAYAQUIL
DEPT PASS: ?
FROM Amembassy QUITO
DATE: August 20, 1971
SUBJECT : GOE Issues Decree on Straight Base Lines for
Territorial Sea
REF
Tran itted herewith is an Embassy translation of
Supreme Decree No. 959-A, establishing straight base
lines for measuring the Ecuadorean territorial sea.
The base lines are described fpr both the continental
coast and the Archipielago of Colon (Galapagos Islands).
The Decree notes that further regulations and a
nautical chart portraying these base lines will be
published at a later date. The Embassy will provide
these additional materials when published.
BURNS
FORM
3.70 DS -32
Dra te. ?y
POL:MLDurkee:er
Clearances:
POL:JPShumate
rating 01.0:
8-16-71
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419Echment A-205
Translation
(Official Register' No. 265,
July 13, 1971)
7 ,
SUPREME DECREE go, 959-,k
JOSE?MARIA VELAW2 IBARRA,
President of the kepublic,
WHEREAS, Article 628 of the Civil Code. establishes that
the Ecuadorean territorial sea shall be measured, in both
the. continental territory of the Republic and the Galapagos
Islands, from:the straight base line's which will be determined
for this purpose under an Executive Decree; and
WHEREAS a Commission composed of representatives of
the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Navy and the Military
Geographic Institute has studied the plotting of such lines
and determined their trajectory; and
_
WHEREAS, such study has been approved by the Ministry
of, Foreign Relations and the Ministry of 'National Defense
an the grounds that it is in the national interest and
fully Conforms to the rules of international law which are
in force on the matter,
It is Decreed:
Article 1. The straight base lines from which the
width of the territorial sea of the Republic shall be
measured will be constituted by the following-described
traverses:
I. ON THE CONTINENT
(a) ,The line will, start from the point of intersection
of the maritime border with Colombia with the straight -
line Punta Manglares (Colombia)--Punta Galera (Ecuador);
(b) From this point a straight line passing through
Punta Galera and 'meeting the northernmost point of Isla
de la Plata;
(c) From this point a straight line to puntilla de
Santa Elena;"
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Attachment A-205
(d) A straight line from Puntilla de Santa Elena in
the direction of Cabo Blanco (Peru) to the intersection
with the geographic parallel constitUting the maritime
border with Peru.
II. IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS
(a) From Islote Darwin a straight line to the
northeastern tip of Isla Pinta;
(b) A straight line to the northernmost point of
Isla Genovesa;
(c) A straight line passing through Punta Valdizan,
Isla San Cristobal, and intersecting the northern extension
of the straight line joining the southeastern tip of Isla
Espanola to Punta Pitt, Isla San Crist?bal;
(d) A straight line from this intersection to the
southeastern tip of Isla Espanola;
(e) A straight line to Punta Sur, Isla Santa Maria;
(f) A straight line passing through the southeastern
tip of Isla Isabela, near Punta Essex, and intersecting
the southern extension of the line joining the outermost
projecting point of the western coast of Isla Fernandina,
approximately in its middle, with western tip of the
Southern sector of Isla Isabela, in the vicinity of Punta
Cristobal;
(g) From this point of intersection a.line passing
through the western tip of the Southern sector of Isla
Isabela, in the vicinity of Punta Cristobal, to the
outermost projecting point in the western coast of Isla
Fernandina, approximately in its middle; and
(h) A straight line to Isla Darwin.
Article 2. The sea areas lying between the lines
described in Article .1 (I) and the coast line on the
Continent, and within the lines described in Article 1
(II), in the Galapagos Islands, constitute interior waters.
;.',P'F? ?
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Attachment A-205
Article 3. The Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service
of the Navy, in cooperation with the Military Geographic
Institute, will perform the necessary geodetic and
astronomical work for determining the geographic coordinates
of the reference points throughout the lines in both ?the
continental coast and in the coast of the Galapagos Islands
and the outer limits of the territorial sea, and will also
establish the azimuths and extensions of the segments of
each traverse described in Article 1, and any other technical
data that may be essential in plotting the aforesaid straight
base lines.
Article 4. The funds required for performing the work to
which reference is made in Article 3 will be made available
to the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy by
the National Government through the proper Ministries.
Article 5. Upon completion of the work to which reference
is made in Article 3, the Hydrographic and Oceanographic
Service of the Navy, in cooperation with the Military Geographic
Institute, will plot, on a nautical chart drawn up to a
suitable scale, the straight base lines and the outer and
lateral limits of ?the territorial sea of the Republic.
Article 6. The nautical chart, with the plottings to which
reference is made in Article 4,'shall be approved under an
Executive Decree.
Issued at the National Palace, in Quito, on June 28, 1971.
/s/ J. M. Velasco Ibarra
President of the Republic
/s/ Luis Robles Plaza
Minister of National Defense
/s/ Vicente Burneo Burneo
Minister of Production,
Acting Minister of
Foreign Relations
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