Former foreign ministers and members of the Foreign Relations Commission expect a favorable ruling for Chile just a couple of weeks after the judgment of The Hague, for the Silala River case, is known.
On June 6, 2016, Chile filed a lawsuit against Bolivia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, requesting that the Silala Riverwas declared an “international watercourse” and that, therefore, our country had the right to use its waters.
It was this Friday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finally confirmed that on December 1, the ruling on the status and use of the waters of the Silala River, will be read in a public hearing, that pits both countries against each other.
For its part, Bolivia stands firm declaring that the waters are located exclusively in Bolivian territory and that they were artificially diverted to Chile. Therefore, they request compensation for its use over more than a hundred years.
The former foreign minister, Mariano Fernández, said to wait calmly, considering that the Court should recognize the course of the waters of both countries.
From the Foreign Relations Commission, the PPD deputy, Raúl Soto; the senator of the same party, Jaime Quintana, and the deputy of the Green Ecologist Party, Felix González, agreed on equal recognition for both countries and a good use of the flow.
Likewise, the former Minister of Foreign Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, appealed for “legal certainty” and to stop saying that Chile stole the waters of the River.
The ruling will be made official by the president of the highest court, Joan Donoghue, and the ruling will be unappealable by the litigating countries.