Morales: Chile's Inconsistent Arguments Strengthen Bolivia's Maritime Claim, Piñera Rejects Negotiations

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Thursday that Chile’s arguments at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the ongoing maritime dispute between the two countries were filled with contradictions and did nothing to undermine Bolivia’s claim.

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The Bolivian President said he was happily surprised because: "there were so many contradictions on Chile’s part. They deem documents through which Chile offered to resolve the maritime cause as ‘neighbor’s or friend’s chats’ when they were official documents signed by high authorities.”

Morales added that Chile’s arguments strengthen Bolivia's claim. “The exposition of Chilean lawyers strengthen us; they confirm our arguments. We haven’t seen the Chilean Agent or team demolish the arguments and proof presented by our lawyers,” he said in a tweet.

Chile had argued before the ICJ Thursday it had no obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia, saying the 1904 peace treaty had settled the matter.

Chilean President Sebastian Piñera said after watching the arguments from Santiago “the treaty is in effect and the border between Chile and Bolivia was agreed upon with clarity and in perpetuity. It’s time Bolivia stopped confusing its own aspirations with Chile’s obligations.”

Evo has repeatedly criticized Chile’s recurrent reference to the 1904 treaty, in which Bolivia accepted the loss of land, including 400 kilometers of coastline saying the neighboring country had “plenty reference to the 1904 Treaty, however, they avoided referencing the root of the problem: the invasion of 1879.”

Bolivia’s territorial loss was the outcome of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883) which unofficially started when Chile decided to occupy the former Bolivian port city of Antofagasta over a tax dispute.

Despite Chile's hostile statements Bolivian lawyers have explained the country was not asking “the court to rule on how sovereign access should be arranged... but simply (to ensure) that Chile returns to the negotiating table in good faith.”

In 2013, Bolivia presented a lawsuit to oblige Chile to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. This is the final round of arguments before the ICJ, the highest court for disputes between nations, deliberates to set a date to issue its binding ruling.