Former President Eduardo Rodriguez Veltze asserted that the measure is not “the best good-neighborly sign” and contradicts the right to free transit established in the 1904 Treaty. The prominent constitutional lawyer noted that this measure contradicts the provisions of that agreement, where “Chile acknowledges Bolivia’s ‘broadest and freest’ right of transit through its territory to the Pacific ports (…).”

Article VI of that treaty establishes that: “The Republic of Chile acknowledges in favor of the Republic of Bolivia and in perpetuity the broadest and freest right of commercial transit through its territory and Pacific ports.”

However, violations of this article have been denounced at several points in the history of bilateral relations.

This article sealed the borders after the 1879 war, in which Chile forcibly deprived Bolivia of its sovereign access to the sea.

International media stated that the far-right president’s border strategy envisions the geographical demarcation of the most vulnerable areas to implement a closure through increased military personnel in the Northern Macro Zone, as well as physical barriers, primarily in the regions of Arica, Tarapaca, and Antofagasta.

Samuel Doria Medina, a businessman, former presidential candidate, and main ally of the government of President Rodrigo Paz, also commented on the order issued by Kast in the first hours after his swearing-in.

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