Bolivia plans ahead after losing in international court to Chile

Latin America

What’s next for Bolivia the day after the International Court of Justice at the Hague rejected its lawsuit against Chile over access to the Pacific Ocean?

CGTN’s Dan Collyns reports from the Bolivian city of La Paz.

After a bruising defeat in the International Court of Justice, Bolivia remains firm in its demand to reclaim access to its lost coastline.

On Monday, international court judges ruled twelve to three in favor of Chile, rejecting Bolivia’s lawsuit seeking to oblige the landlocked country to negotiate a path to the Pacific.

Returning from the Hague, President Evo Morales told reporters in Bolivia he would write to the UN court highlighting contradictions in its ruling.

“It can’t be possible that the court benefits the invaders, the multinationals, that is essentially what it has done. I feel this is a court for the people and not for the multinationals which seize territories to plunder their natural resources,” said Evo Morales the Bolivian President.

Bolivia lost its 400-kilometer coastline to Chile in a war that ended in 1884, and it’s been trying to get it back ever since.

Chile’s President Sebastian Pi era accused Morales of building up false hopes with an unwinnable lawsuit.

Some analysts said Morales, who is running for a controversial fourth term next year, used the issue for political gain.

“The sea issue has been politicized and used by President Morales which I think is legitimate. The opposition has also found a way to benefit, like former President Carlos Mesa. But we shouldn’t lose perspective that the good will of the people will always depend on the agreements reached with other governments, such as Chile and Peru,” said Carlos Cordero a political scientist at San Andres University.

Morales’ international court gambit ended in failure and that could cost him in the ballot box next year.