Bolivia and Chile intend to rebuild relations without including the maritime issue

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia and Chile announced on Friday, May 7th, that a road map will be drawn up to rebuild the complex bilateral relationship without including the maritime issue, although the Government of Bolivian President Luis Arce clarified that this demand is “inalienable.”

“With the purpose of initiating a dialogue aimed at building mutual trust” the governments of Bolivia and Chile “have been exploring several initiatives of reciprocal interest,” reported Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta at a conference in La Paz.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs clarified that this new initiation of dialogue is opened without Bolivia abandoning its “historic and inalienable position on the maritime claim.”

Bilateral relations between Bolivia and Chile have been suspended at ambassadorial level since 1962, with a brief hiatus between 1975 and 1978, due to the historical controversy over the Bolivian maritime claim.

The two countries clashed in 1879 in the so-called War of the Pacific, in which Bolivia lost some 400 kilometers of coastline and nearly 120,000 square kilometers of territory.

During the first government of Michelle Bachelet as Chile’s president,  relations improved somewhat, but in 2013 Bolivia’s ex-president Evo Morales sued Chile before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, which ruled in 2018 that Chile had no legal obligation to negotiate with Bolivia.

Despite the ruling, Bolivian authorities considered that the ICJ also pointed out in its ruling that although Chile had no such obligation, this would not be an impediment for both countries to dialogue.

On March 23rd, Bolivia’s Day of the Sea, President Luis Arce reiterated that the century-old maritime claim is an “open and pending” issue and that he will resume the policies established during the government of Evo Morales in search of a rapprochement with Chile to settle the issue.

In his announcement on Friday, Mayta stressed that both countries agree “that constructive dialogue is the ideal instrument for understanding and integration.”

“Bilateral cooperation effectively helps peaceful coexistence, intercultural dialogue contributes to the necessary knowledge of the peoples and trade and investment are a tool to achieve the economic and social progress of our countries,” he concluded.

The road map agreed between Bolivia and Chile to be developed by 2021 includes issues such as economic cooperation, free transit, limits, physical integration, culture, environment, tourism, education, science, technology and innovation, cooperation and cross-border water resources.