Weekly Report - 16 July 2015 (WR-15-28)

Chile has tended to avoid megaphone diplomacy over Bolivia’s longstanding claim to sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. But Chile’s foreign minister, Heraldo Muñoz, had no option but to respond to remarks by Pope Francis during his visit to Bolivia. The Pope broached the issue in La Paz cathedral on 8 July: “it is essential to improve diplomatic relations…between sister peoples and to advance frank and open dialogue about their problems - And I am thinking here of the sea”. In a press conference on his return flight home he added, “I’d say it’s not unfair to present something like this [Bolivia’s appeal to The International Court of Justice]… [as] there’s always a foundation of justice when there’s a change in territorial borders, especially after a war”.

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