Carlos Aznárez
It is very easy to speak at forums and summits about Latin
American integration but those principles don’t seem to transfer well when put to
the practice of everyday life.
There could be no greater proof of this than what is going
on with the current government of Chile. The very government that the Chilean
“left” insisted had to be elected to prevent, as that worn out phrase repeats,
“the need to stop the right”. We have heard this rationale time and time again
in other Latin American countries but this time it has given the government of
Michelle Bachelet the green light to put Chile in the dramatic fix it finds
itself in.
It is with absolute logic that neighboring Bolivia has been
demanding a route to the sea for a 136 years. It is worth remembering that this
situation is not new and between 1879 to 1883 it came to a war between Chile,
Peru and Bolivia that ended with Bolivia losing 400 kilometers of its rightful
coastline on the Pacific.
Currently Bolivia is not even asking to take back that lost
territory that could cause a massive displacement of the population there. No,
what Bolivia is asking for is gaining access to a very small portion of
unpopulated area on the coast so they could have access to the sea and to
recuperate a small area taken away from them during that military conflict.
Meanwhile the Chilean social democrats have shamefully joined the right to say
this would have a serious effect on the economy of Chile. It was only the
government of Salvador Allende that tried to fix the problem but was not able
to do it because those in power in Chile before had slammed the door shut on
any resolution of this serious problem.
Bachelet is not alone in that extreme position against
actual Latin America integration. It is words she often repeats but in
practicality follows the advice of functionaries such as her current agent in the
International Court of Justice in The Hague, Felipe Bulnes who is the former
minister of the right wing government of Sebastián Piñera and an active member
of the fascist National Renovation Party. The political background of Bulnes
was always anti-Allende, one linked to anti-communism and he is now in The
Hague trying to deny Bolivia its sovereign right.
The position of Bolivia couldn’t be clearer. Through their
representatives in The Hague Bolivia has explained that it has always honored
international treaties, like the “Treaty of Peace and Friendship” of 1904 that
included a series of clauses that was to help with the issue of the lack of
access to the sea. In part of that treaty Chile committed to build a railroad
between Arica and La Paz, to issue credit, allow the right of free passage to
the Pacific Ports and the payment of 300 thousands pound sterling in
compensation. All that ended in nothing and Bolivia once again is having to
raise its rights.
And Bachelet, a so called “socialist”, continues to deny
Bolivia just like during Pinochet who tortured her own father. Bachelet even
goes so far as to say that, “Chile will not give up its legitimate territory
and Bolivia has to accept what is decided at The Hague”.
This argument is a complete rupture with all currents and
thoughts of fraternity and Latin America integration that was re-introduced by
that giant of unity of the peoples Hugo Chávez. On several occasions he said
that his biggest wish was that “sooner rather than later he could swim in the
Bolivian Sea”. These are also the demands of the majority of the popular and
revolutionary Chilean left that on several occasions has welcomed Evo Morales
as a blood brother and continues to mobilize to make a reality of the demand
from Bolivia.
While this dispute has become an issue of international
importance Bachelet continues to lose popularity inside and outside Chile. As
Morales recently mentioned, she continues to "clutch to a Constitution
inherited from Pinochet". She has ignored the demand for free education
coming from Chilean students and has also ignored the territorial demands of
the Mapuche people, whose leaders are imprisoned and in many cases have been
assassinated. Her foreign policy shows contempt for Bolivia, and this is in and
of itself is enough to understand why she is supporting the U.S. Pacific
Alliance.
And as if this were not bad enough to define just how far
the Socialist Party of Bachelet has gone astray the very daughter of Salvador
Allende has also joined in this shameless offense of the memory of what her
father stood for. Isabel Allende has stooped even further than denying Bolivia
but to visit in Caracas the wives of the imprisoned right wing coup organizers
Mayor Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo Lopez. She was not satisfied with this
disrespect to the people of Venezuela but took it further by the calling the government
of Nicolas Maduro a dictatorship.
With these spokes people defending the so called interests
of Chile in The Hague it would be very healthy for the authentic socialist
movement in Chile to reject this sustained rightward drift of the leadership with
a militant struggle or to massively abandon their party altogether.
Republished from Resumen Latinoamericano
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