Santiago – Most Chileans reject relinquishing sovereignty over Bolivia’s former coastal region, despite La Paz’s demand for renewed sea access, according to a survey published Sunday by the daily La Tercera.
On the other hand, an overwhelming majority – 90 percent of those polled – favor reestablishing diplomatic relations with the neighboring country, which were suspended in 1978, and 88 percent feel that any maritime accord negotiated with Bolivia should be subjected to a plebiscite.
Some 75 percent responded positively to a solution to the territorial dispute if it would not involve ceding sovereignty, and 69 percent said they did not agree with any possible return of former Bolivian territory to La Paz.
In addition, 62 percent of those polled said they were against Bolivia giving up other portions of its territory to Chile in exchange for reacquiring a sovereign corridor to the Pacific Ocean.
The telephone survey, said La Tercera, was conducted on Thursday and Friday among 427 Chilean citizens over age 18 in the country’s eight major cities. It has an error margin of 5 percent.
The longstanding dispute between Chile and Bolivia – which stems from the 19th-century War of the Pacific in the region, which Bolivia lost – resurfaced this week with the celebration of the “Day of the Sea” in the landlocked country.
Bolivian President Evo Morales called for a special meeting of the Organization of American States to discuss the matter, a request that was categorically rejected by Santiago.
The survey found that if some sort of territorial exchange were arranged, 63 percent of those polled said Bolivia should compensate Chile with a swath of territory equivalent in size to the land and sea area Santiago would be returning to La Paz.
On other questions, 83 percent of those polled think that the disputed territory was always Chile’s and was simply recovered in the 1879 war.
Some 89 percent believe that the territory is now Chilean due to the 1904 treaty signed by both countries and 50 percent do not think that the lack of ocean access has limited Bolivia’s economic development, while 43 percent admit that it has.
Fifty-five percent said that the best thing is to maintain the status quo regarding the littoral region, 41 percent say that some change should be made and 74 percent said they did not feel that a corridor to the sea would be a fair solution for Bolivia.
The survey found that 51 percent do not feel that giving Bolivia sea access would allow the two countries to fully integrate themselves.
Fifty-six percent said that the presence of Chilean then-President Ricardo Lagos at Morales’ January inauguration and the presence of the latter at the inauguration of Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on March 11 were clear attempts to iron out the countries’ mutual differences.
But 68 percent said they disagreed with the shouts of “Sea for Bolivia” by people attending a ceremony honoring Morales held by Chilean leftists in Santiago.
During the “Day of the Sea” festivities on Thursday, Morales said he would ask for a debate on maritime access in a special session of the OAS.
But Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said Friday that the controversy is by nature bilateral and “does not require other interventions.” He added that Chile is “more than agreeable to holding a fruitful dialogue with Bolivia, with an open agenda and without exclusions.” The OAS has not voiced an opinion since 1979 about Bolivia’s territorial demand.
The OAS said then that the issue was one of hemispheric significance, and called on Chile to make an effort to help resolve it.
Chile has said repeatedly that it will not give Bolivia a piece of sovereign territory on the coast, although in recent years it has seemed open to alternative solutions, such as corridor-type arrangements that would assure Bolivian access to the Pacific.
In a communique emitted Friday, Foxley repeated that relations with the neighboring country “constitute a high priority” of his foreign policy.
But the statement also said: “Creating a climate of agreement must be based on definitions and on national consensus within the framework of existing judicial instruments.” That was taken as a reference to the treaty that establishes the borders that exist today.
The note also said that the government has repeatedly shown “its willingness to resume diplomatic relations with Bolivia unconditionally, without bias,” and added that “only through bilateral dialogue and agreement between the two countries can we progress with an agenda for the future.”
The new Bolivian authorities have based renewal of diplomatic ties with Chile on gaining access to the Pacific Ocean.
The topic of Bolivia getting back a stretch, even a short one, of coastline is a sore one in Chile, where virtually all politicians and the great majority of citizens consider the matter long closed.
Before Bachelet was elected president, she expressed her willingness to analyze a means of granting some form of access to the sea to Bolivia, but not sovereign territory.
She said she was willing to discuss the matter “from the point of view of maritime access, but with respect to the international treaties and accords that we have today.” She also said any solution regarding Bolivia’s maritime demands would require the approval of all the countries involved, including Peru, which fought on the same losing side as Bolivia in the War of the Pacific and also lost territory to Chile.
Bolivia’s repeated attempts to persuade Chile to return the seaside territory over the course of the last century caused the countries to break off diplomatic ties in 1962, with a brief resumption between 1975 and 1978, when both nations were ruled by military regimes.
The two nations have maintained consular contacts since 1978 when Bolivia broke off diplomatic relations after negotiations with its neighbor failed to win it access to the sea.
