Arrival of Gabriel Boric to La Moneda opens the possibility of a new dialogue agenda between Chile and Bolivia

With the arrival of Boric, the possibility of a “new dialogue agenda” between Bolivia and Chile opens up.

Both countries have not had diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors since 1978 and recently experienced tensions due to the demand that Bolivia raised in 2013 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for a sovereign outlet to the Pacific Ocean.

Another point is the exploitation of lithium, a resource shared by Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, and the dilemma of whether to act as single countries or as a large continental consortium with priorities, prices and local industrialization processes.

Former Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera (2006-2019) asserted that “resolving pending issues is a look that will not help any of the countries”, for which he considered that it is necessary to advance “on new urgent issues”.

For García Linera, with the arrival of Boric to the Presidency of Chile after “the great uprising of 2019” the possibility of making “great changes” opens up, something that did not happen with the Concertación governments despite the fact that there were socialist members and communists.

“The Concertación never proposed great transformations and if someone expected something more from the Concertación, they were naive,” he said.

“A mobilized Chilean society in the following years can mark the management of a more radical government. A less mobilized Chilean society in the following years may mark the management of a more moderate government. That is our experience,” he added.

In this sense, García Linera considered that there are two efficient levels to make way for these changes: “collective action and governmental decisionism”, for which the Boric government “would have to be what the mobilized society is marking”.

In addition, he anticipated that in Chile, just as “it is happening all over the world”, there is a displacement of center-right positions “towards the extreme right” and that this is going to complicate the decision of any government, including the one that will preside over Boric.

The leftist Gabriel Boric has expressed on several occasions that he is ideologically close to García Linera, who is even one of the special guests at his investiture.

“For me it has been an honor that he has mentioned me (…). I did not expect it, of course, and I have kept a grateful silence all this time, “he said about Boric’s statements that he has him as an intellectual and political reference.

The only meeting between the two took place several years ago, around 2015, when García Linera went to Chile to give a conference on the constituent process of Bolivia and at the end there were greetings and exchanges of questions in which Boric, Camila Vallejos and others participated. new Chilean leaders.

García Linera, when asked about a possible advice to Boric, said he was willing to “humbly contribute” with his knowledge as a social fighter. (I)