Chilean FM says Bolivia has no desire to re-establish diplomatic ties

The Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Munoz, slammed Bolivia Tuesday, saying the country did not have the political will to re-establish diplomatic relations with Chile.

The diplomatic ties between the two were broken off by Bolivia in 1978, after territorial negotiations failed, although the countries do maintain consular links.

"Whoever seeks to put conditions (on renewing ties) has neither the desire nor the political will to re-establish diplomatic relations," he added.

His comments came in response to his Bolivian counterpart, David Choquehuanca, who stated discussions about restoring ties would only start once Bolivia obtained sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.

After attending a meeting of the Senate's Commission on Foreign Relations, Munoz reiterated that "Chile had tabled a concrete proposal and stood ready to renew diplomatic ties immediately and without conditions."

"We have not asked Bolivia to remove the appeal it has lodged ( with the International Court of Justice) in the Hague as many countries have lodged cases there and yet maintain diplomatic ties, " he added.

In 2013, the Bolivian government lodged a historic appeal with the ICJ, seeking to force Chile to negotiate an access to the Pacific Ocean.

Bolivia lost its maritime territory during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), in which Chile was pitted against Bolivia and Peru.

The minister also confirmed that Jose Miguel Insulza was involved in an international communications campaign to raise awareness about Chile's position on the matter.

Insulza, a former Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Secretary General of the Organization of American States, is visiting Argentina and Uruguay this week for this very reason.

However, Munoz insisted that while these visits intended to ensure that Chile's claims were well understood, the country was not seeking international support.

"We are not interested in countries publicly siding with Chile as this is a bilateral issue. However, it is important that they are aware of the arguments we are presenting in the Hague," concluded Munoz. Endite