The lawyer, academic and former Chilean ambassador to Israel, José Rodríguez Elizondo, considers What Chile and its foreign minister, Alberto van Klaveren, achieved at the XVIII Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, achieved is important.
Reviewing the Summit Declaration yesterday Monday, Rodríguez Elizondo considers that the document “marks a notable collateral success of Chilean diplomacy”, stating “in point 14, clearly that the issue of migration requires adequate management of migration flows, an open, inclusive and transparent dialogue on migration governance and shared responsibilities of the states”. For the former ambassador, this way of presenting the matter does not open up space for Bolivia to place the maritime demand as a condition to sit down and talk about the immigration issue. He also highlights the convening of a space to implement these approaches in the coming months as relevant: “The desire to hold the IV Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development in 2023”
The academic at the University of Chile and author of Constitutional path to revolution: Chile between the outbreak, plurinationality and the plebiscite (2022) and History of the civil-military relationship in Chile: from Eduardo Frie Montalva to Michelle Bachelet Jeria (2018), expressed prior to the Convention his concern over the fact that the Bolivian President, Luis Arce, placed, as a condition for discussing the issue of migration, that Chile negotiate the issue of Bolivia’s access to the sea. For Rodríguez Elizondo, the fact that Arce stated that they would not stop “working to promote our maritime claim with Chile” was imposing a bargaining chip to start negotiating the problem. migratory with Chile.
“Assumed without euphemisms, President Arce’s statements are extortionate. They imply that he will be able to stop the invasion of Venezuelans and other immigrants only if Chile gives Bolivia a sovereign access to the sea,” Rodríguez Elizondo told The Mercury Saturday. Now, known the Summit Declarationthe lawyer and academic highlights what was agreed upon at the international meeting on migration matters and, mainly, what stated in point 14 of the document, which – in his opinion – “is a great advance”.
-What is the role of the summits?
-Semantically they are a kind of “maximum events” of any kind. They basically serve to position topics topnot to solve them. The most complicated are the political summits at the level of heads of state, since their agreements must be agreed… and this is almost never possible… How could there be a substantive consensus between the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and the from Uruguay and Ecuador, for example?
-Why did the Ibero-American Summit not raise the issue of migration as a specific policy, if it is one of the most urgent problems in the region?
-From what has been said: a specific policy means focusing on the millions of Venezuelans produced by the Maduro regime and this not only has its own vote, but that of its associates in the region. But beware, in the absence of a specific policy, point 14 of the Declaration clearly states that the issue requires proper management of migratory flows, an “open, inclusive and transparent” dialogue on migration governance and “shared responsibilities of the states”. It even expresses “the desire to hold the IV Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development in 2023.” In my opinion, this does not specifically solve the problem, but it helps and, above all, marks a notable collateral success of Chilean diplomacy.
-Because?
-Because it neutralized ipso facto President Luis Arce’s project to exchange control of migrants arriving from Bolivia for a sovereign outlet to the sea. He raised it days before the Summit, perhaps because, emulating Evo Morales –with whom he is in stiff competition–, he wanted to take advantage of it as a stage to reinternationalize his country’s maritime aspiration. I believe that we must recognize the wisdom of President Boric in appointing Alberto van Klaveren, an old fox of international politics and diplomacy, as chancellor.
The detail of the point to which the specialist refers, reads as follows:
- We reiterate our commitment in favor of safe, orderly and regular migration, fully respecting the human rights of migrants through the joint search for mechanisms that guarantee adequate management of migratory flows, agile and accessible migration regularization processes, the socioeconomic insertion of migrants, support for host communities and the coordinated fight against organized transnational crime and human trafficking and migrant smuggling networks. We also reaffirm our willingness to continue working to eradicate the multidimensional causes of irregular migration. For these purposes, the dialogue on migration governance must be open, inclusive and transparent, upholding the principles of non-selectivity, inclusion, solidarity, regional and international cooperation and the shared responsibilities of States. In this sense, we express the desire to hold the IV Ibero-American Forum on Migration and Development in 2023.
