International relations between the Republic of Chile and the Argentine Republic have existed for decades. The border between the two countries is the world's third-longest international border, which is long and runs from north to south along the Andes mountains. Although both countries gained their independence during the South American wars of liberation, during much of the 19th and the 20th century, relations between the countries were tense as a result of disputes over the border in Patagonia. Despite this, Chile and Argentina have never been engaged in a war with each other. In recent years, relations have improved. Argentina and Chile have followed quite different economic policies. Chile has signed free trade agreements with countries such as Canada, China, South Korea, and the United States, as well as the European Union, and is a member of APEC. Argentina belongs to the Mercosur regional free trade area. In April 2018, both countries suspended their membership from the UNASUR.
Historical relations (1550–1989)
Rule under Spain and Independence
The relationship between the two countries can be traced back to an alliance during Spanish colonial times. Both colonies were offshoots of the Viceroyalty of Peru, with the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (which Argentina was a part of) being broken off in 1776, and Chile not being broken off until independence. Argentina and Chile were colonized by different processes. Chile was conquered as a southward extension of the original conquest of Peru, while Argentina was colonized from Peru, Chile and from the Atlantic.
Argentina and Chile were close allies during the wars of independence from the Spanish Empire. Chile, like most of the revolting colonies, was defeated at a point by Spanish armies, while Argentina remained independent throughout its war of independence. After the Chilean defeat in the Disaster of Rancagua, the remnants of the Chilean Army led by Bernardo O'Higgins took refuge in Mendoza. Argentine General José de San Martín, by that time governor of the region, included the Chilean exiles in the Army of the Andes, and in 1817 led the crossing of the Andes, defeated the Spaniards, and confirmed the Chilean Independence. While he was in Santiago, Chile a cabildo abierto (open town hall meeting) offered San Martín the governorship of Chile, which he declined, in order to continue the liberating campaign in Peru.
In 1817 Chile began the buildup of its Navy in order to carry the war to the Viceroyalty of Perú. Chile and Argentina signed a treaty in order to finance the enterprise.The annual register, or, A view of the history, politics, and literature for 1819, Volume 61, John Davis Batchelder Collection (Library of Congress) [ link], page 138 But Argentina, fallen in a civil war, was unable to contribute. The naval fleet, after being built, launched a sea campaign to fight the Spanish fleet in the Pacific to liberate Peru. After a successful land and sea campaign, San Martín proclaimed the Independence of Peru in 1821.
War against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation
From 1836 to 1839, Chile and Argentina united in a war against the confederation of Peru and Bolivia. The underlying cause was the apprehension of Chile and Argentina against the potential power of the Peru-Bolivia bloc. This resulted from concern over the large territory of Peru-Bolivia as well as the perceived threat that such a rich state would represent to their southern neighbors. Chile declared the war on 11 November 1836 and Argentina on 19 May 1837.José María Rosa,
In 1837 Felipe Braun, one of Santa Cruz's most capable generals and highly decorated veteran of the war of independence, defeated an Argentine army sent to topple Santa Cruz. On 12 November 1838 Argentine representatives signed an agreement with the Bolivian troops. However, on 20 January 1839 the Chilean force obtained a decisive victory against Peru-Bolivia at the Battle of Yungay and the short-lived Peru-Bolivian Confederation came to an end.
Potreros of the Andes dispute
Chincha's war
A series of coastal and high-seas naval battles between Spain and its former colonies of Peru and Chile occurred between 1864 and 1866. These actions began with Spain's seizure of the guano-rich Chincha Islands, part of a strategy by Isabel II of Spain to reassert her country's lost influence in Spain's former South American empire. These actions prompted an alliance between Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Chile against Spain. As a result, all Pacific coast ports of South America situated south of Colombia were closed to the Spanish fleet. Argentina, however, refused to join the alliance and maintained amicable relations with Spain and delivered coal to the Spanish fleet.
War of the Pacific On 6 February 1873, Peru and Bolivia signed a secret treaty of alliance against Chile. On 24 September, Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento asked the Argentine Chamber of Deputies to join Argentina with the alliance. The Argentine chamber assented by a vote of 48–18. The treaty made available a credit of six million pesos for military expenditures. However, in 1874, after the delivery of the Chilean ironclad Almirante Cochrane and the ironclad Blanco Encalada, the Argentine Senate postponed the matter until late 1874, and Sarmiento was prevented signing the treaty. Consequently, Argentina remained neutral during the war; and the Argentines signed a Border Treaty with Chile in 1881.
Claims on Patagonia
Border disputes continued between Chile and Argentina, as Patagonia was then a largely unexplored area. The Border Treaty of 1881 established the line of highest mountains dividing the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds as the border between Argentina and Chile. This principle was easily applied in northern Andean border region; but in Patagonia drainage basins crossed the Andes. This led to further disputes over whether the Andean peaks would constitute the frontier (favoring Argentina) or the drainage basins (favoring Chile). Argentina argued that previous documents referring to the boundary always mentioned the Snowy Cordillera as the frontier and not the continental divide. The Argentine explorer Francisco Perito Moreno suggested that many Patagonian lakes draining to the Pacific were in fact part of the Atlantic basin but had been moraine-dammed during the quaternary glaciations changing their outlets to the west. In 1902, war was again avoided when British King Edward VII agreed to mediate between the two nations. He cleverly established the current Argentina-Chile border in Patagonia by dividing many disputed lakes into two equal parts. Several of these lakes still have different names on each side of the frontier, such as the lake known in Chile as Lago O'Higgins and in Argentina as Lago San Martín. A dispute that arose in the northern Puna de Atacama was resolved with the Puna de Atacama Lawsuit of 1899.
1893 Border protocol
The 1893 Boundary Protocol between Argentina and Chile, also known as the Errázuriz-Quirno Costa Protocol, was an agreement signed by Isidoro Errázuriz Errázuriz representing Chile and Norberto Camilo Quirno Costa representing Argentina on 1 May 1893 in Santiago, Chile. It was signed to solve problems that arose during the demarcation of the boundary on the basis of the 1881 Treaty.
This protocol ratified the principle of "Chile to the Pacific and Argentina to the Atlantic" from which, later on, discrepancies arose regarding the limit of both oceans, and whether the principle applies to the south of parallel 52° or not, according to the protocol, it applies to the north of parallel 52° only. In addition, the principle of the "main chain" of the Andes Mountains was established. The areas affected by the protocol were: the Seno Ultima Esperanza and the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.
Southern Patagonian Ice Field border definition in 1898 by experts from both countries
Puna de Atacama dispute (1889-1898)
Arms race and foreign policy cooperation
Dreadnought race
At the start of the 1900s a naval arms race began amongst the most powerful and wealthy countries in South America: Argentina, Brazil and Chile. It began when the Brazilian government ordered three formidable battleships whose capabilities far outstripped older vessels after the Brazilian Navy found itself well behind the Argentine and Chilean navies in quality and total tonnage.
Baltimore Crisis
During the Baltimore Crisis which brought Chile and the United States to the brink of war in 1891 (at the end of the 1891 Chilean Civil War), the Argentine foreign minister Estanislao Zeballos offered the US-minister in Buenos Aires the Argentine province of Salta as base of operations from which to attack Chile overland. In return, Argentina asked the U.S. for the cession of southern Chile to Argentina.Arthur Preston Whitaker, [ The United States and the southern cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay], Harvard University Press, 1976, page 34 Later, Chile and the United States averted the war.
Pactos de Mayo and 1902 Andes Boundary Case
The Pactos de Mayo are four protocols signed in Santiago de Chile by Chile and Argentina on 28 May 1902 in order to extend their relations and resolve its territorial disputes. The disputes had led both countries to increase their military budgets and run an arms race in the 1890s. More significantly the two countries divided their influence in South America into two spheres: Argentina would not threaten Chile's Pacific Coast hegemony, and Chile promised not to intrude east of the Andes.William F. Sater, Chile and the United States, Empires in Conflict, University of Georgia Press, 1990,
The statue Christ the Redeemer of the Andes was erected in 1904 as a symbol of the new friendship, on the border where Chile Route 60 met National Route 7 (Argentina).
Snipe incident
In 1958 the Argentine Navy shelled a Chilean lighthouse and disembarked infantry in the uninhabitable islet Snipe, at the east entrance of the Beagle Channel.
Laguna del Desierto dispute (1949-1994) and the killing of Hernán Merino Correa
The Laguna del Desierto dispute was a territorial conflict between Argentina and Chile over a 481 km2 region in Patagonia, located between Hito 62 on the southern shore of Lago O'Higgins/San Martín and Monte Fitz Roy, encompassing the Del Desierto Lake. The dispute, rooted in differing interpretations of the 1881 Boundary Treaty and the 1902 arbitral award, escalated on November 6, 1965, when a clash between 90 members Argentine National Gendarmerie and Chilean Carabineros de Chile resulted in the death of Lieutenant Hernán Merino Correa, and Sergeant Miguel Manríquez injured, and two captured Chilean officers. Argentine forces seized a Chilean flag, later displayed as a war trophy until its return in 2017. This created a tense atmosphere between Chile and Argentina.
The dispute stemmed from ambiguities in the 1881 Treaty, which defined the border along the highest Andean peaks dividing waters, and the 1902 arbitration by Edward VII, which imprecisely divided the region due to limited geographic knowledge. In 1991, Presidents Patricio Aylwin and Carlos Saúl Menem agreed to international arbitration. The tribunal, led by Rafael Nieto Navia, ruled on October 21, 1994, largely favoring Argentina's claim based on the local water divide, assigning almost all of the disputed area to Argentina. Chile's reconsideration request was rejected on October 13, 1995. The ruling left Chile with limited access to Mount Fitz Roy via the Circo de los Altares.
Encuentro River-Alto Palena boundary dispute (1913-1966)