Water Wars, 2017

Background In 1879 following a dispute over taxes on Chilean saltpetre mines the Chilean armed forces occupied the Bolivian port of Antofagasta. Following a failed attempt at mediation from Peru, Bolivia declared war on Chile and called on Peru to activate their Secret Treaty of Alliance which had been signed in 1873. After negotiations failed, Chile declared war on Bolivia and Peru. Following a naval and land campaign, Chile defeated the Bolivian and Peruvian armies. Bolivia was defeated and withdrew on May 26, 1880. The land campaign climaxed in 1881 after the Chilean army occupied Peru’s capital, Lima. Peruvian army remnants and irregulars waged a guerrilla war against Chile until Chile and Peru signed a peace treaty on October 20, 1883. In 1884 Bolivia signed a final truce with and relinquished the entire Bolivian coast, the province of Antofagasta, and its nitrate, copper and other mineral deposits. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1904) made this arrangement permanent, forever cutting off Bolivia’s access to the Pacific Ocean. For over 100 years Bolivia has tried, through peaceful means reacquire the land it lost in the war. In 2013 leftist President Evo Morales and his government filed a claim with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) claiming that Chile had violated the terms of the peace agreement and that the land had been acquired unjustly. In December of 2015 the ICJ delivered a verdict which shocked the world. It determined that Chile had illegally acquired the land from Bolivia and although it was not compelled to return the entire territory it had captured it urged Chile to provide Bolivia a sovereign access to the sea in the form of a national corridor some 20kms wide. Chile immediately responded by stating that it would never give Bolivia such access. At the same time, long time friend of Morales and left wing radical, Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro faced an impending national revolution. With oil prices below $40 dollars for over 2 yea