The Government continues to carry out actions aimed at mitigating the pain generated on the other side of the mountain range by the continuous allusions to the “Wallmapu” by the Minister of the Interior, Izkia Siches, something that certain trans-Andean political leaders have considered a buried questioning of sovereignty Argentina on its territory.
Now it was Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola’s turn, who assured, in statements to the newspaper The country of Spain, that the “concept is an approach of the Mapuche people and Minister Siches endorsed it out of respect”, so that “under no circumstances does the Chilean Government understand it as a split from the State, much less does this Administration have a lack of recognition of Argentine sovereignty in its territory.
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the importance of Argentina for the foreign policy of President Gabriel Boric. “A priority of any foreign policy is the relationship with neighboring countries and, in that sense, Argentina is essential for Chile. Secondly, there are clearly ideological rapprochements with some countries in the region that there are not with respect to others. But the President has insisted that, beyond the ideological closeness with one or the other, his priority is that Latin America once again have a single voice”, she declared.
Along these lines, Urrejola affirmed that “that unique voice has to do with a common agenda that we have to find in the different countries of the region that goes beyond ideological differences. Latin America is one of the regions most affected by the climate crisis, being one of the least responsible. We have to have a joint look at the immigration issue, drug trafficking, security.”
The chancellor also referred to the leading role that Chile must recover with regard to the regional coordination that the migration issue deserves. “The special concern points to how Chile is beginning to resume a leadership that it had for a long time in terms of human rights. Because human rights will be a hallmark of this government in matters of foreign policy. The humanitarian and human rights crisis in Venezuela, for example, requires a political dialogue that the States must accompany,” said Urrejola.
The Secretary of State endorsed the Government’s decision to wait until the end of the constitutional process to put on the agenda the possible ratification of TPP-11 in the Senate, a decision that rests on “a sense of responsibility, because TPP-11 touches on a set of of issues that are going to be directly related to a possible new Constitution and, beyond the opinions that I may have as chancellor, the appropriate framework is going to be the new Constitution to be able to discuss it in substantive terms”.
Likewise, he highlighted the support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which offered help “to have a technical debate, absent from the ideological issue, because in the discussion of the TPP-11 there was -on both sides-, ideological positions. And beyond the TTP-11, a debate is taking place at the international level that has to do with dispute resolution mechanisms. There has been a debate about the International Center for Settlement of Disputes (ICSID) and others about how those mechanisms are reviewed in light of the new challenges facing Chile and the world.”
Another matter addressed by Minister Urrejola was the conflict between Russia and Ukraine: “Chile, along with condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has supported the United Nations resolutions regarding the convictions. We understand that there is an invasion, that basic rights under international law have been violated, and we have supported those resolutions, along with delivering humanitarian aid through the Red Cross,” said Urrejola, who did not want to elaborate on the possible application of economic sanctions against Russia. without first coordinating a joint response with other countries in the region.
