Bolivia and Chile express willingness to reestablish diplomatic relations after 50 years

President of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz. Luis Gandarillas / POOL / AFP Bolivia and Chile are willing to move forward in reestablishing diplomatic relations, broken more than 50 years ago, Bolivian Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo said on Thursday (23) after meeting in La Paz with his Chilean counterpart, Francisco Pérez Mackenna. ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp The two countries broke formal diplomatic relations in 1975 due to the impossibility of reaching an agreement to reestablish the exit to the sea that Bolivia lost in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). That year, right-wing dictators, Bolivian Hugo Banzer Suárez and Chilean Augusto Pinochet, negotiated unsuccessfully to resolve Bolivia’s centuries-old maritime claim. With the coming to power of José Antonio Kast, from the ultra-right, in Chile, and Rodrigo Paz, from the center-right, in Bolivia, bilateral ties between the two countries gained new momentum. The presence in Bolivia of the Chilean foreign minister “evidences the expression of the will that we have at the highest level to be able to carry out a set of actions that are conducive to the reestablishment of our diplomatic relations”, said the Bolivian minister. In turn, the Chilean foreign minister indicated that both countries project “a positive agenda with a view to the future”, at the end of a meeting at the headquarters of the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in La Paz. Aramayo and Pérez Mackenna met early in a border location and then went to the headquarters of the Bolivian government to discuss a broad bilateral agenda. After the meeting, the two appeared at the ministry’s headquarters to offer a joint statement, in which, in addition to their desire to advance diplomatic relations, they expressed their desire to bring closer commercial ties and coordination in matters of migration control. President Kast took office on March 11 with a promise to combat irregular migration to Chile. He ordered the military to build a moat on the border with Bolivia. The Paz government, in turn, did not present any objections to this initiative by its neighbor.

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