La Paz – Bolivian President Evo Morales called Thursday for the Organization of American States to hold an extraordinary and urgent meeting on Bolivia’s demand for sovereign access to the sea, saying he trusted the Chilean government would help fulfill that aspiration.
Morales made the request in a speech to mark the Day of the Sea, an annual event in which Bolivia pays homage to those killed in the 1879-1884 War of the Pacific, a conflict in which the country lost its Pacific coastline to Chile. Peru, which fought on the same losing side as Bolivia in that war, also lost territory to Chile.
“We are asking that the OAS convene an urgent, emergency, extraordinary meeting with one item on the agenda: sea access for Bolivia,” the socialist leader told a crowd assembled at La Paz’s Heroes Plaza.
Morales specifically directed his proposal to OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, a Chilean. The president noted that the OAS chief is a member of his country’s Socialist Party, which Morales likened to Bolivia’s Movement Toward Socialism party that he heads.
To solidify the request, Morales invited Insulza to a meeting in La Paz “as soon as possible” to discuss this long-standing demand of the Bolivian people.
The last time the OAS issued a declaration on Bolivia’s maritime aspirations was in 1979, when the organization’s General Assembly met in La Paz and called on the Chilean government to resolve the conflict. However, since then, Chile has successfully argued before the body that no pending dispute has existed between the two countries since a 1904 treaty established the nations’ borders.
In his speech, Morales also called for the intervention of the United Nations and the international community to undo the “historic damage” suffered by Bolivia since losing its Pacific coastline.
Demanding the return of the coastal strip is de rigueur for Bolivian presidents on the Day of the Sea, but Morales sought to preserve the cordial tone of his contacts so far with Chilean leaders.
Though the countries have no diplomatic relations, Chile’s then-President Ricardo Lagos attended Morales’ January inauguration, and the Bolivian was on hand in Santiago earlier this month for the swearing-in of new Chilean head of state Michelle Bachelet.
