PRESIDENT Evo Morales hopes to start a “new era” in Bolivia’s relationship with Chile after today’s International Court of Justice ruling on Bolivia’s access to the sea.

The new age will take “advantage of our potentialities, promoting integration for the wellbeing of our peoples. It’s necessary to cure injuries from the past,” he said.

La Paz began its International Court of Justice process in April 2013.

The Bolivian president said he valued peaceful solutions for international disputes, based on international law, asking Chileans to understand their neighbour’s petition as an opportunity rather than an “unfriendly act.”

“Bolivia will never give up in its cause. That’s why the Bolivian people will gather on October 1 without divisions, without difference around our tricolour banner, our Wiphala [patchwork emblem for native peoples] and our sea claim flag,” he said.

“Our reunion with the sea is not only possible but inevitable.”
Santiago refuses to renegotiate the 1904 bilateral treaty ceding Bolivian territory, including shoreline, to Chile, following the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific.

Martyred socialist former Chilean president Salvador Allende was on record saying: "The time has come to repair a grave injustice. Chile has a century-old debt and we are willing to embark on a historical solution.

“Bolivia will return to the Pacific coast with sovereignty. We ask nothing of Bolivia's working people. We want only to repair the cruel dispossession of which it has been a victim.”

The UN International Court of Justice is legally binding, but it has no means to enforce its rulings.