Coastlines, Policy & Agribusiness in South America
On Monday, October 1, Chile recorded a major victory at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against its landlocked neighbor Bolivia. The historic origins of this case date back to the Pacific War between Chile and Bolivia (alongside Peru), which was fought between 1868 and 1873. During this war, Chile defeated both Bolivia and Peru, which also meant substantial territorial gains for the victor and a landlocked future for Bolivia. According to the Peace Treaty signed between Chile and Bolivia in 1904, the current borders between the two countries are fixed as an outcome of the war, Bolivia loses the coastline that it had during the early 19th century, and Chile allows its neighbor indefinite use of some of its major ports in the Pacific coast.
However, Bolivia has never really gotten over being landlocked after the Pacific War and the 1940 Peace Treaty. Therefore, since 1978, Bolivia and Chile have not had formal diplomatic relations and Bolivian governments have constantly sought to force Chile into giving back some of its territory. This political dynamic led Bolivian President Evo Morales to sue Chile at The Hague back in 2013, hoping that the ICJ would force the Chilean government to negotiate a strip of coastal territory with its landlocked neighbor. Nevertheless, when the Court’s decision was read on Monday, October 1, Bolivia’s latest hope to end its landlocked condition were crushed by a 12 to 3 majority, stating that the 1904 Treaty is the law of the land and that Chile has no obligation to negotiate away its sovereign territory. Naturally, this decision was felt as a great victory in Chile, which hopes that the century-old dispute is finally settled. Meanwhile, President Evo Morales vowed to continue the fight until Bolivia gets the coastline that it so desires.
Coastlines, Policy & Agribusiness in South America
Today, with a total of 756.102 square kilometers, Chile is almost twice the size of Montana. Located between South America’s Pacific coastline and the Andes Mountains, the country has a diverse landscape, a variety of climates, and a coastline of 6.435 kilometers. Currently, Chile has a total population of approximately 18 million citizens, with an average age of 34 years. Furthermore, about 88% of the Chilean population lives in an urban setting, notably the capital city of Santiago with some 7 million inhabitants.
The country’s national annual gross domestic product (GDP) is US$451 billion (PPP) and has experienced positive economic growth in recent years. The economy of Chile is divided into 5% agriculture, 31% manufacturing, and 64% services. Meanwhile, the national labor force is divided into 9% working in the agriculture industry, 24% working in the industrial sector, and 67% working in services. Similarly, the national agriculture industry utilizes about 21% of the national territory, while another 2% is forested. In terms of natural resources, Chile has copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum, and hydropower potential. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on mining, foodstuffs production, fish processing, metallurgy, transport equipment, cement, and textiles. Lastly, Chile’s agricultural industry has as main products grapes, apples, pears, onions, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic, asparagus, beans, beef, poultry, and wool.
(Read more about Politics and Macroeconomics in Southeastern Europe)