The Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Ximena Fuentes, addressed this Monday the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of The Hague for the use of water from the Silala river, a case that confronted Chile and Bolivia for six years. Fuentes said that the resolution “forcefully points out and takes note” of the change in Bolivia’s position in the process and pointed out that “there is no space” for the neighboring country to say that “the river is not international.”
Let us remember that the ruling, issued on December 1, states that the Silala River is an international watercourse. It also points out that Chile has the right to its equitable and reasonable use and that both parties must promote its care.
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“What the ruling does is point out very forcefully and take note of all the changes that the Bolivian position underwent during the process,” said the undersecretary, slogan emol.
“So, in this sense, we must remember the original position of Bolivia, which was that the Silala river is not international, that there is an artificial diversion of these waters, that Chile, therefore, was making illegitimate use and that it should compensate for that use of more than 100 years, the so-called historical debt,” he added.
“That was changing until the parties, as the Court notes in the ruling, are in agreement. They say that the Silala is an international river, which naturally crosses from Bolivia to Chile, that both States have the right to use it according to to the rule of equitable and reasonable use and that Chile has nothing to pay for the use it has made of those waters,” added the authority.
“Taking note of this, the Court says, therefore, that the claim lacks purpose. But I ask you to read paragraph 46 of the ruling, which clearly states that here what the parties and Bolivia have indicated, by the authorities of Bolivia, it was in good faith and constitutes an agreement,” he said.
“Bolivia said all this before the main judicial body of the United Nations, which is the International Court of Justice. I really believe that there is no space to point out that tomorrow Bolivia could say that the river is not international,” Fuentes emphasized.
