For persistent Bolivia, all hope is not yet lost in the landlocked country’s relentless and legally mandated push for an access route to the sea that it lost long ago.
In The Hague, the World Court recently supported Chile’s refusal to negotiate with Bolivia to cede a sliver of land that would connect it to the Pacific.
But other options do exist.
The most obvious is the 99-year concession neighbor Peru granted Bolivia in 1992 to a coastal Pacific corridor near the Peruvian city of Ilo — one that Bolivia has never developed.
Furthermore, two options exist to connect Bolivia in the other direction, to the Atlantic.
One is a 90-year-old agreement that connects Puerto Busch to the sea via Paraguayan waterways; the other is a longer river route via Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, also negotiated through treaties.
Neither of these has been utilized to any extent by Bolivia, which at least until now has preferred to pursue the sovereign-territory option.
Source: BBC News