Although there is hope for a constructive dialogue, rigid positions continue to distance both nations and leave in suspense the possibility of diplomatic reconciliation in the short term.
(From Santiago, Chile) It is known that the Bolivian maritime claim is a centuries-old thorn between Chile and Bolivia. And it is due to the rigidity of both governments in their positions that the bilateral relationship between both countries is at its coldest stage, despite the ideological affinity between their presidents, Luis Arce and Gabriel Boric.
Let us remember that both nations have not had diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors since 1978 after the Bolivian claim of sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean, lost in the so-called War of the Pacific (1879-1884).
In 2013, the then Government of Evo Morales (2006-2019) sued Chile before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking to firmly negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. However, in 2018 the court determined that the Chilean State does not have the legal obligation to negotiate with Bolivia.
The Bolivian authorities at that time defended that the Court also indicated in its ruling that although Chile does not have that obligation, that does not represent an impediment for both countries to dialogue.
This position was recently ratified by President Arce, who assured that the ruling recognizes that Bolivia “was born with the sea” and “does not close the possibility that agreements can be reached through dialogue.”
“That is exactly what the country must do in a very well analyzed, very well thought out strategy so that we can achieve the objective that all Bolivians want,” said the president and also confirmed that his country’s maritime aspiration is “inalienable.” .
Arce’s statement came a few days before the commemoration of the so-called Sea Day on March 23, when Bolivians remember that on that date in 1879 the country’s first resistance took place against what its authorities describe as an invasion by Chilean troops. which began on February 14 of that year.
Boric expressed his desire to move towards the resumption of diplomatic relations with Bolivia, but without negotiating its sovereignty.
The arrival of Boric to the Chilean presidency in 2022 was seen in Bolivia as the possibility of a new stage of bilateral relations due to Arce’s ideological affinity with that president, as happened at the time with Evo Morales and the also leftist Michelle Bachelet.
However, that has not happened and Bolivia will arrive at Sea Day “with a very cold relationship” with Chile and “a situation that does not generate any type of enthusiasm or expectation,” said Bolivian analyst on international affairs Andrés Guzmán, according to the report. a note from The Desconcert.
“But on this occasion, things have no relevance, it is not a much discussed topic and that is because the relations have remained very cold, very distant, despite the ideological affinities that initially generated certain expectations, because they are both Left-wing governments,” he explained.
Guzmán recalled the ’13 Point Agenda’ established by Morales and Bachelet in 2006, which marked an “unprecedented moment in the history of relations” between Bolivia and Chile due to the rapprochement between both governments.
In his opinion, the 2018 ruling “continues to have a sedative” or “freezing” effect on relations, which deteriorated when Bolivia presented the claim before the ICJ and until now have not been able to return to the level of “high understanding” that there was between 2006 and 2010.
The expectations of what could happen with Boric came to nothing after a few days after his inauguration, the Chilean leader expressed his desire to move towards the resumption of diplomatic relations with Bolivia, but without negotiating its sovereignty and without “putting the cart before the oxen.”
Arce replied, precisely on Sea Day 2022, that the reestablishment of relations “can only occur within the framework of the solution to the pending maritime issue.”
For Guzmán, “both presidents put forward their irreconcilable positions and that was the end” of the rapprochement, something that apparently will not change as long as the conditions of both countries remain “rigid.”
The analyst also considered that Bolivia is not taking the initiative and that “it seems that there is no interest whatsoever,” or that the Government prefers to give a low profile to the issue given the “failure” of the claim before the ICJ, taking into account which was an initiative of the ruling Movement towards Socialism (MAS).
He added that Bolivia would have to move from “claiming” and “victimization” to “proposing solutions that look forward” and that take into account “what other landlocked countries are doing that are improving their conditions in some way.”