Importance of the Beagle Conflict (1888-1984)

It included a border dispute between the Argentine and Chilean states around a maritime point that stands on the border between both nations, designated as the Beagle Channel.

An almost eternal difference that was further strained by the ruthless Chilean and Argentine dictatorships

The sovereignty over a group of islands and islets that are found within it, and the nearby maritime space, were the two axes of the almost century-old confrontation between Chile and Argentina over the aforementioned southernmost tip of South America South.

The intervention of Pope John Paul II was able to stop in 1978 an imminent war that was about to develop in the conflict zone, mostly encouraged by the Military Junta that governed Argentina in those years, and that was opposed to accepting the result of the arbitration that raised United Kingdom.

The differences dated back to the end of the 19th century when Chile claimed Argentina for many maps that circulated in the country and that located several of those islands under its jurisdiction. sovereignty.

With the passing of the years, the conflict grew and resented the parties more and more, who despite the meetings to bring positions closer together and the international awards that they requested, they were unable to reach an agreement that would satisfy the two.

England's 1977 arbitral ruling established that the waters in the canal would be navigable for both countries, meanwhile, a good part of the islands and the rights generated by them would be for Chili.

He government The Argentine considered that said decision certainly affected its sovereignty in the area and that, on the contrary, it unfairly benefited Chile.

Argentina's ignorance of the sentence strained the bilateral relationship to the maximum Argentina-Chile and the war was almost a fact when the Argentine military decided to occupy the islands in dispute.

And on the other side there was also a military government, equally or more authoritarian and violent, headed by the General Augusto Pinochet, who would not waste the pleasure of resolving the long dispute with a cruel and brutal.

A war that fortunately was NOT

Papal mediation stopped the start of a fight that would have been disastrous for both countries and managed to sign a peace treaty in 1984 that could put an end to the very long conflict, even the treaty had the endorsement of a plebiscite by the Argentine side, held that same year with the return of the democracy.

Peace is signed after 96 years of fighting

The signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which dates from November 1984, and which was signed by the foreign ministers of both nations in the The Vatican, Dante Caputo, for Argentina and Jaime del Valle Alliende for Chile, closed the dispute and established sovereignty Chilean over all the islands located to the south of the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with the exception of the Argentinean ones located to the north of the channel.

On the other hand, Chile had to renounce a large part of the maritime rights that the islands produced according to the right international.

Reciprocal navigation rights were agreed in the area and Argentina gave up its claim to dominance in the Strait of Magellan.

Fotolia images. Mego, Vitaly