Bolivia commemorates the 143rd anniversary of the loss of access to the sea

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia began commemorating the 143rd anniversary of the loss of its coastline to Chile on Tuesday with the transfer of the remains of the hero Eduardo Abaroa to the square of the same name in La Paz and the ratification of its “commitment” to regain sovereign access to the sea.

Bolivian President Luis Arce led a grand parade through the city center, which was also attended by Vice President David Choquehuanca and the presidents of the Senate, Adrónico Rodríguez, and the Chamber of Deputies, Freddy Mamami Laura, as well as other government officials.

The tour began after the urn containing Abaroa’s remains was removed from the Basilica of San Francisco to be mounted on a type of carriage connected to an ancient military vehicle, followed by a parade of government officials and a military parade.

In front of the military carriage, a band of the Bolivian Regimiento Colorados, a division of the Armed Forces that stands for its participation in the Pacific War at the end of the 19th century, led the caravan while singing hymns that justify the centuries-old demand for the return of the sea.

Today the country of Bolivia, in South America, is landlocked. This was not always the case. Before 1879 the Pacific coast province of Antofagasta was part of Bolivia. As a result of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), however, Bolivia lost Antofagasta to Chile and became a landlocked country.

“We renew and reaffirm our sacred duty to defend our right and our territory, and commit ourselves to return to the waters of the Pacific through a sovereign port,” Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo said during a brief ceremony in Abaroa Square, the place where the hero’s remains will lie until the end of Wednesday’s festivities.

In 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Chile was not obligated to negotiate with Bolivia over access to the sea because Bolivia had filed a lawsuit five years earlier.

Bolivia had formulated its position based on rights that were said to have been created over time through negotiations between the governments of the two countries.

Novillo asserted that the ICJ’s final ruling “recognizes that the territorial situation has not yet been resolved” and that it is necessary to “establish a dialogue based on rationality and historical truth,” which the Bolivian government has maintained even after the ruling became known.

The judicial controversy before the ICJ has heightened tensions between the two countries, which have not had diplomatic relations since the 1970s precisely because of the issue, and has led to fierce verbal friction between their former top officials.

The recent rise of Gabriel Boric as Chilean president and certain ideological similarities with the Bolivian government have opened the possibility of a new stage in relations between the two countries.

Recently, the Chilean president assured that there was a “willingness” to improve relations with Bolivia, although he clarified that “Chile does not negotiate its sovereignty,” while the Bolivian Foreign Ministry stressed that the maritime claim was “inalienable.”

The central events for Maritime Day are scheduled for Wednesday, when a message from the Bolivian president is expected.

In April, Chile and Bolivia will meet again at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to hear Chile’s lawsuit over rights to the waters of the Silala.

WAR OF THE PACIFIC (1879 – 1883)

The war that caused Bolivia to lose its access to the sea was precipitated by a dispute between Bolivia, Chile, and Peru over control of nitrate deposits near the Pacific coast. In the 1870s Chile faced an economic crisis as the prices of its major exports, wheat, and copper, declined.

As other exports declined, Chile became increasingly dependent on the growth of nitrate mining in the Atacama Desert. Nitrate production doubled between 1865 and 1875.

The area of nitrate deposits straddled what were then the Chilean, Peruvian, and Bolivian borders, including the Bolivian Pacific province of Antofagasta and the Peruvian province of Tarapaca. Most of the nitrate deposits lay in Bolivian and Peruvian territory, but the major nitrate mining companies that operated in these areas were owned by British and/or Chilean nationals.