PRESS RELEASE

The Plurinational State of Bolivia, today on April 24, 2013, instituted proceedings
against Republic of Chile at the International Court of Justice, with regard to a
dispute concerning the obligation of Chile to negotiate the sovereign access of
Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean assuming the historical mandate of the Bolivian people
received and announced by President Evo Morales.
The instated proceedings against the Republic of Chile has been elaborated in more
then 2 years of work conducted by the Bureau of Maritime Vindication, (DIREMAR),
with the participation of national authorities, civil society organizations and Bolivian
experts, as well as international Law specialists.
The Bolivian Application requests the International Court of Justice to adjudge and
declare that Chile has the obligation to negotiate in good faith, promptly, formally,
within a reasonable time and effectively, an agreement granting Bolivia a full
sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. This request is not based on the Treaty of
1904.
Bolivia, in accordance with international Law principles, elucidates that the current
proceeding is not an unfriendly act against Chile or its people; to the contrary it
seeks to find a definitive solution to a centenary problem, which is of a hemispheric
interest. Bolivia seeks to the jurisdictional option after exhausting every dialogue
approach and due to the constant delays of Chilean governments in relation to the
fair claim of the Bolivian right to return with sovereignty to the Pacific Ocean.
Bolivia as a pacifist country places its trust in the International Court of Justice,
which is recognized as the highest Court established by humanity for the peaceful
settlement
of
disputes
between
States.
Bolivia, convinced that peace, friendship, good-neighborhood and complementarity
should prevail among Nations, makes known to the International community his its
decision with dignity, modesty and an integrationist spirit, to come along with this
proceeding which seeks to restore the rights of a country unjustly sea-locked and
deprived for more than one hundred years of its the maritime quality with which it
was born.