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Foreign Minister Ampuero points out that Chile "completely" disarticulated Bolivian arguments after a second day of Chilean oral arguments in The Hague

Friday, March 23, 2018

"What Chile has done today is to completely dismantle Bolivia's arguments." With these words, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roberto Ampuero, referred to the presentation by the Chilean legal team on the second day of Chilean oral arguments before the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the "Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean" case.

In his speech, the Foreign Minister stressed that the national defence "showed with great vehemence and clarity that the Bolivian arguments are incomplete, decontextualized and did not reflect the historical reality in all its dimensions".

In this regard, the Secretary of State highlighted five points. The first is that the real reason why Bolivia sued Chile is based on the fact that "the Bolivian constitution obliges its rulers to disregard treaties such as the one of 1904".

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The second point is that the case of Bolivia is 'inconsistent' and 'contradictory'. In this regard, he indicated that "some of his lawyers only ask to sit at the table to negotiate with Chile, others however demand Chilean territory".

Thirdly, Minister Ampuero stated that Bolivia's claim has no legal basis. "Bolivia has not been able to show a single document establishing that Chile is obliged to negotiate and hand over sovereignty," he said.

As a fourth aspect, the head of Chilean diplomacy stated that the Bolivian demand puts the intangibility of the borders at risk. "For Chile there is a fundamental principle. Once the limits are established by both countries through a treaty, they will stay that way. This is what allows good neighbourly relations, it is what allows security, stability and also the prosperity of countries.

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The fifth point highlighted by the Foreign Minister was that the case of Bolivia is also unfair. "Chile has always proved to be a good neighbour and has always been willing to listen to Bolivia's aspirations. However, sitting down to listen to the aspirations of a neighbouring country does not mean that one is obliged to accept all those aspirations, demands, approaches. It also doesn't mean that you have to be held accountable for that," he said.

Finally, the Secretary of State underlined our country's willingness to listen to the views, concerns and aspirations of our neighbours, always under the umbrella and within the framework established by the 1904 Treaty. "We want to invite Bolivia to recognize, value and respect the 1904 Treaty and not to try to modify the limits that are governed by that Treaty," he concluded.