This Friday, Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz presented at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague, the Chilean rejoinder to Bolivia's 2013 lawsuit, a process called by the tribunal as "Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean Bolivia vs Chile".
Minister Muñoz went to the ICJ together with the Agent of the case, Claudio Grossman, and Coagentes Alfonso Silva and María Teresa Infante, who is also Chile's ambassador to The Hague.
With this presentation, Chile was ahead of the deadline for submitting the rejoinder, set by the ICJ for September 21. This also brings the written stage of the process to an end. According to the ICJ rules, it is the international tribunal that must set the time limits for oral argument.
With this presentation, Chile was ahead of the deadline for submitting the rejoinder, set by the ICJ for September 21. This also brings the written stage of the process to an end. According to the ICJ rules, it is the international tribunal that must set the time limits for oral argument.
After submitting the rejoinder, Minister Heraldo Muñoz emphasized that the document is a robust response to Bolivia's reply, which discards Chile's obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia. "This is an artificial demand. Bolivia has said that its claim does not question the 1904 Treaty. However, it is precisely the aim of this law suit", stated the Minister.
Chancellor Muñoz added that "it is obvious, when reading the Bolivian lawsuit and then their arguments during the oral allegations of the preliminary objection, that they have changed their line of argument. They demanded a completely sovereign right of access, a territorial cession, and then they ended up saying that they were willing to take a practical approach or a special zone", he said.
In addition, the Minister pointed out that "the Court clarified that the case is not about an alleged right of sovereign access to the sea and ruled out Bolivia's claim that a hypothetical negotiation should end with a predetermined outcome. What does this mean: that neither the territory of Chile nor the 1904 Treaty will be at risk".
For his part, Agent Claudio Grossman said that the "deadline has been met" with the delivery of the rejoinder, "which is a very solid message of the Chilean position and the fact that things were done properly".