During the OAS’s 41st general assembly held in El Salvador on Tuesday, Bolivia will present its hundred years claim for sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.
Bolivia lost a part of its territory and maritime access during a war with Chile in 1879, and has asked for reconsideration ever since. Lack of access to sea is seen as an adverse condition for development.
Both Chile and Bolivia will be able to express their views regarding past and future negotiations on this bi-national issue. They will be represented by their foreign office secretaries David Choquehuanca for the Bolivian delegation and Alfredo Moreno for Chile.
Bolivia will stress that a resolution was signed in 1979 between both countries, urging Chile to find a way to settle the dispute, which stated, “it is of the continent’s permanent interest to find a fair settlement in which Bolivia shall obtain sovereign and useful access to the Pacific Ocean”.
Bolivian minister of communication, Iván Canelas, said that the lack of access to the Pacific can not only be resolved by a bi-national settlement, as some Chilean authorities argued. On 23rd March, Bolivian president, Evo Morales, announced that his country would appeal to international courts and organisations to solve this issue, without abandoning dialogue.
Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the news agency of AMARC-ALC.
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[...] Apart from this, the Bolivian case gains strength through a resolution adopted jointly by Chile and Bolivia in 1979. The resolution urged Chile to take action to end the dispute and stated that “it is of the continent’s permanent interest to find a fair settlement in which Bolivia shall obtain sovereign and useful access to the Pacific Ocean. [...]
[...] Apart from this, the Bolivian case gains strength through a resolution adopted jointly by Chile and Bolivia in 1979. The resolution urged Chile to take action to end the dispute and stated that “it is of the continent’s permanent interest to find a fair settlement in which Bolivia shall obtain sovereign and useful access to the Pacific Ocean. [...]