International Court of Justice Says No to Bolivia’s Demand that Chile Must Negotiate Over Ocean Access

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On October 1, 2018, the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, ruled that Chile cannot be forced to negotiate with Bolivia over “sovereign access” to the Pacific Ocean. The ICJ, the United Nations’ venue for resolving disputes between nations, found that despite a long history of talks, Chile has never bound itself to negotiations that would necessitate it surrendering territory to Bolivia, which lost its former coastline in a 1904 treaty following the War of the Pacific. The outcome was widely interpreted as a setback to Bolivian President Evo Morales, though pundits had differing things to say. 

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