Speaking of weird items :
From Reuters Alertnet:
18 Nov 2003 21:18:10 GMT
Chavez raises hackles with "Bolivian beach" comment
By Fiona Ortiz
SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Chile on Tuesday recalled its ambassador in Caracas after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez voiced support for land-locked Bolivia's quest for access to the Pacific Ocean, a sore point between Chile and Bolivia for 125 years.
Chavez said at a forum over the weekend in Bolivia that it was not fair that the country had no coast and some day he would like to visit a Bolivian beach.
Bolivia lost its outlet to the sea to neighboring Chile in the War of the Pacific in 1879. Chile says the issue is closed permanently and there is no room for modifying the 19th century treaty defining the borders between Bolivia, Chile and Peru.
The recall of the ambassador "is a signal regarding expressions (Chavez) should not have made. We as a country take care of our own bilateral affairs and we don't like third parties getting involved," Chilean Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear told a news conference in Santiago.
Chile also had a chilly response last week when U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, on a visit to the region, said he was open to a mediating role if Bolivia and Chile were to talk about sea access. Chile said there was nothing to negotiate.
Venezuela said on Tuesday it was pushing for a friendly solution to Bolivia's problem.
"Evidently to be able to bathe in the waters of the Pacific (in Bolivia) there would have to be a negotiated solution between the two sides, and that is our profound wish, born of our profound brotherhood with Chile," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton said at a press conference in Caracas.
BOLIVIA BLIND SPOT
Political analysts said that while Chavez had overstepped boundaries by referring more than once to Bolivia's nonexistent coastline, Chile has a nationalistic blind spot over Bolivia.
Patricio Navia, adjunct professor at the New York University center for Latin American Studies, said it would cost Chile nothing, and help it to gain stature in the region if it gave Bolivia access to the ocean letting it fly a flag in an unused port in northern Chile.
"Chile wants to refer back to that treaty from the late nineteenth century without realizing that even treaties can be amended or new treaties can be signed to adapt to new realities and needs," Navia said. "They have this 19th century vision that neighbors are potential enemies instead of allies."
Bolivian resentment over territorial issues with Chile was a major factor during weeks of violent protests that ended in the resignation of former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada last month.
Some 80 people died during demonstrations rejecting Sanchez de Lozada's economic policies and his plan to export Bolivian natural gas through a Chilean port to Mexico and the United States. Due to historic animosity between the two nations, Bolivians rejected any Chilean involvement in the deal.
Bolivia and Chile broke off diplomatic relations 25 years ago and do not have embassies in each other's countries, just consulates. In recent years there has been tentative talk of a bilateral free trade negotiation between the two countries but no progress has been made.