Evo Seeks Dialogue, Piñera Rejects It

October 10, 2018

The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, announced yesterday the sending of a letter to his Chilean counterpart, Sebastián Piñera, to restart the dialogue on the Bolivian demand for a sovereign exit to the Pacific Ocean. The Chilean president, however, rejected the initiative and described Bolivia’s territorial claim as absurd.

“The Plurinational State of Bolivia invites the Government of the Republic of Chile to restart the dialogue,” Morales said while reading the letter, in an address to the media at the Bolivian Executive’s headquarters in La Paz. Morales explained in his brief appearance that the sending of the letter was agreed in a meeting with members of his cabinet and the Bolivian agent before The Hague, Eduardo Rodriguez.

In a series of messages on the social network Twitter, the Bolivian president also reported that the letter was sent in response to the October 1 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in which the last paragraph stated that the court’s decision not to force Chile to negotiate an exit to the sea for Bolivia did not prevent the continuation of dialogue to address issues related to the Bolivian cloister. “Giving effect to the ruling, we invite the government of Chile to restart the dialogue to address issues related to the situation of confinement of Bolivia and all those relating to a good neighborly relationship, recognized by both parties as of mutual interest,” twitted Morales. “Chile’s attention to this comment made by the Court, and which Bolivia makes effective with this note, will contribute to giving continuity to the efforts that both countries are making to forge adequate solutions to our pending issues,” he added in another twit.

Morales’s Chilean counterpart was categorical in its rejection. “The ruling of the International Court of Justice was clear, categorical and adopted by an immense majority and in that ruling there is no obligation for Chile to negotiate with Bolivia,” said Piñera after being consulted at the end of a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “All of Bolivia’s aspirations and claims presented to the ICJ were rejected one by one and therefore I believe it is very important that Bolivia understands fully the meaning of this ruling,” he added.

The Chilean president also clarified that before dialoguing with La Paz, several conditions had to be fulfilled, which he described as basic. “First, that the 1904 Chile-Bolivia boundary treaty be fully respected in good faith. That the true meaning be understood and the ICJ ruling be respected. And also that Bolivia abandons its absurd pretension over territory or sea or Chilean sovereignty,” said the president, who is on a ten-day tour of several European countries. “Under these conditions, of course we are going to dialogue with Bolivia on the issues of the future, on how we strengthen our integration and economic development, how we improve the security of our borders, how we fight more effectively drug trafficking and other evils that sometimes affect our borders, and how we achieve greater integration within Latin America,” he said.

Piñera also took the opportunity to send a strong message to the Chileans: “I want to tell all my compatriots that this president is always going to have an attitude of dialogue and collaboration with neighboring countries, but he is always going to defend the sea, the territory and Chilean sovereignty with great strength”. Yesterday Piñera began a two-day visit to Germany as part of a European tour.

Bolivia lost its exit to the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the so-called War of the Pacific (1879-1883), 139 years ago, when Chilean forces occupied the then Bolivian port of Antofagasta. In 1904, both countries signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship to put an end to the state of war that continued to exist between them and that definitively established the borders of the two nations.

Just 10 days ago, the ICJ ruled against a lawsuit filed by Bolivia in 2013 that sought to force Chile to negotiate a sovereign exit to the Pacific Ocean.

https://www.pagina12.com.ar/147988-evo-busca-el-dialogo-pinera-lo-rechaza.

Source: Pagina 12, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America Bureau