I know it will never happen, but what a great opportunity this would be for Chile to make a magnanimous gesture by returning just a tiny strip of coastline to Bolivia. Perhaps a few miles-wide corridor along the Peruvian border.
It would be a concrete proof of the new spirit of maturity and cooperation in the region.
The bites taken out of it by its neighbours have made Bolivia a basket-case almost from day one.
And the Chileans have also suffered, even though they won. These border disputes have fed militarism and left these countries with overbearing armies that end up preying on their own people.
And the whole continent ultimately suffers from having pockets of misery like Bolivia, an economic black hole.
I know it won't happen but it sure would be nice. It would be a world first and would cement Chile's improving reputation.

Go on Chile. You're too long and skinny anyway.

For their own sakes, I hope they dump free trade, and return to a government run retirement system.
I wish her and Chile good luck. I remember what happened to Allende.

About Bolivia and lock of developement...it is not a sea border their problem, look at Switzerland!!! Come on Bolivian!!! Do not blame the others for your own incapacity as nation....(pherphas you should have better politicians and lider).

Finally, Pinochet is being brought to justice (see below). How long will we wait for the same to happen to Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld?
Chile is showing the world what an independent judiciary does. With all the evidence we have of Bush's crimes, why has the U.S. judiciary not taken action? It seems Chile's judiciary is more independent than ours.

Pinochet Fingerprinted, Photographed by Chilean Police
Agence France-Presse

Thursday 29 December 2005

Augusto Pinochet was fingerprinted and photographed for the first time as police opened a criminal file on the former dictator for his alleged role in the deaths of political opponents in 1975.

Officers came to Pinochet's home in the elegant La Dehesa neighborhood, where he has been under house arrest for five weeks, to fingerprint and photograph the aging strongman, taking both a head shot and profile.

Judge Victor Montiglio, who ordered the procedure, granted a 46,000-dollar bail to the former strongman. The bail must be ratified by a court of appeals.

It was the first time ever that the former Chilean president was booked, although he has faced prosecution three times in the last five years on charges related to the deaths or disappearances of some 3,000 people during his 1973-1990 regime.

"There is no doubt, it's an insult," said Pinochet lawyer Pablo Rodriguez after Montiglio ordered the procedure.

Pinochet, 90, who was put under house arrest on November 23 after being charged in connection with the deaths of political opponents in 1975, lost a second appeal for release on grounds of ill health Monday in Chile's Supreme Court.

Judges voted three to two against Pinochet's habeas corpus appeal to have his house arrest lifted and the charges against him dropped.

Pinochet is accused on involvement in the deaths of 119 political opponents in 1975 at the hands of the secret police in the notorious Operation Colombo.

He has also been charged with fraud, providing falsified documents and making false declarations to avoid paying taxes, in connection with 27 million dollars he allegedly hid in US and other overseas bank accounts.

The Supreme Court rejected an earlier habeas corpus appeal for Pinochet on December 2.

In both cases, Pinochet's attorneys argued that his mental health would prevent him from receiving a proper trial.

Cecilia, the difference in wealth between Bolivia and Switzerland can be explained by the simple fact that while Switzerland represented the pinnacle of early 16th century military technology, the inhabitants of Bolivia were still using stone weapons at the time.

It's ridiculous to suggest that a country so dependent on the exports of raw materiels as Bolivia has not suffered from the loss of access to the sea.

Are you Chilean? Why cling to this useless (to you) strip of land? No-one in Chile ever even goes north of Antofagasta. It's dog-in-a-manger behaviour.

The fact is Chileans take macho pride in having beaten up a more primitive nation over a hundred years ago. The irony is that the only people the Chilean army and navy has killed in over a century are their fellow Chileans.

Bolivia's lack of access to a cost line is not the issue, nor is it Chileans' macho pride. The real problem is that Bolivian leaders have ruled their country ignoring 60% + of their population for considering them "inferior" for being indigenous. And now that they will have an indigenous president he seems to be chosing policies that have never worked anywhere, Bolivia or Suisse. If not, look at Venezuela's empty shelves and increasing rates of poverty in spite of all the petro dollars and abundant coastline. And Cuba ?

Bolivia's lack of access to a cost line is not the issue, nor is it Chileans' macho pride. The real problem is that Bolivian leaders have ruled their country ignoring 60% + of their population for considering them "inferior" for being indigenous. And now that they will have an indigenous president he seems to be chosing policies that have never worked anywhere, Bolivia or Suisse. If not, look at Venezuela's empty shelves and increasing rates of poverty in spite of all the petro dollars and abundant coastline. And Cuba ?

Maybe Michelle Bachelet will win the Presidency of Chile, and that would be great. And maybe the citizens of Chile will elect Sebastian Pinera, and that would be OK too. What is more important, I think, is that in Chile and for the last twenty or so years, both the left and the right have changed in very fundamental ways. The left recognizes the need for a strong private sector of the economy without abandoning their commitment to equitable social development. The right, on the other hand, seems to have changed as well by making strong commitments to social investment, not something that one heard before from their leadership. The bridge that has been created and which is the common denominator between the left and the right is that both groups are also committed to democracy, pluralism, and civil and human rights. And that is why Chile moves forward in the manner that it does.

Somehow, and only history will tell us exactly how, Pinochet's regime -perhaps unwillingly- also had a part in Chile's evolution, particularly when he accepted an election in which he lost and then had the decency to actually leave power to those who opposed him, even knowing perhaps that his future would be full of the kinds of trouble he is facing today.

We mourn the 3,000 people who died during his rule, and should not have died in the manner they did, during the 17 year military regime. But who around the world cries for the tens of thousands of Cubans who have died as a consequence of Fidel Castro's abnormal fixation with absolute power and bad policies, and the millions who died in other countries ruled by what Vargas Llosa calls the "bad left"; China, the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Cambodia, North Korea, Iran, perhaps Venezuela...just to name a few ?

The secret of progress is not brain surgery, but just to keep our policies consistent with the moral compass that we all instinctively have.

The main problem Chile faces when talking about giving a sea access to Bolivia is the fact that Chile can't modify his north frontier without approval of Peru (based on the treaties of early 1900's). This was demostrated in 1978(?), when negotiations between Chile and Bolivia were stopped by Peru.

It would be good if that 10km wide corridor in the north border of Chile could be given to Bolivia at once... if for nothing, so they have one less reason to argue over.

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