President Arce to Seek Access to the Sea for Bolivia

On Thursday, President Luis Arce confirmed that his administration is interested in achieving access to the Pacific Ocean for his country since Bolivia's insular condition implies annual losses equivalent to 1 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

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President Arce Defends Bolivia's Sovereignty Over Lithium

“Today marks another year since we lost our ancestral relationship with the seas,” he said during a ceremony on the Sea Day, a date on which Bolivians commemorate the defense of the territory of Calama during the 1879 Chilean military invasion.

“It will be possible to make viable the just, legitimate and historical aspirations of a nation that was born with maritime coasts,” Arce pointed out.

He is also looking for a new stage in the Bolivia-Chile relations so that "a sincere and viable dialogue" allows addressing issues that have historically separated both countries.

Arce recalled that Bolivia lost its access to the sea as a result of the "War of the Pacific," which was "motivated by Imperial interests." In this context, he called for an agreement between Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia to protect lithium from extra-regional powers.

"We are willing to jointly design a policy that ensures our countries as suppliers of this type of energy in sovereign conditions that favor our peoples."

"We do not want our lithium to be in the eyes of the Southern Command or be a reason for destabilization of democratically elected governments," he stressed.