ARICA-PARINACOTA REGION

'XV Arica-Parinacota Region' (Spanish: XV Región de Arica y Parinacota) is Chile's 15th administrative region. Its capital will be Arica. It begins to operate as region on October 3 2007.
In October 21, 2005 Chilean President Ricardo Lagos signed a bill allowing for the creation of Arica-Parinacota Region. The bill was approved by Congress on December 19, 2006; it was signed into law on March 23, 2007 and published on April 11, 2007. According to the Roman numeral designation, currently used in Chile, this region is number 'XV' (fifteen). However, steps are being taken to no longer refer to the regions by numbers.
Arica-Parinacota Region was created by subdividing the Tarapacá Region in northern Chile. It consists of two provinces: Arica and Parinacota. The Iquique Province will be divided to form the new Tamarugal Province.

Contents

Border dispute with Peru

References

External links

Border dispute with Peru

On January 26th, 2007, Peru’s government issued a protest against Chile’s demarcation of the coastal frontier the two countries share. According to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, the Chilean legislatures have endorsed a plan regarding the Arica and Parinacota region which does not comply with the current, established territorial demarcation. Moreover, they allege that the proposed Chilean law includes an assertion of sovereignty over 19,000 sq. meters of land in Peru's Department of Tacna. According to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, Chile has defined a new region "without respecting the Concordia demarcation."
The Chilean deputies and senators that approved the law said they didn't notice this error. For its part, the Chilean government has asserted that the region in dispute is not a coastal site named Concordia, but instead refers to boundary stone No. 1, which is located to the northeast and 200 meters inland.Peru protests against Chile's new definition of territory ''Xinhua People’s Daily online'' [1]. (accessed January 27 2007) A possible border dispute was averted when the Chilean Constitutional Court ruled on January 26th, 2007 formally unconstitutional legislation, that Peru said could be seen as a move by Chile to encroach on its maritime territorial sovereignty. While agreeing with the court's ruling, the Chilean government reiterated its stance that the maritime borders between the two nations were not in question and have been formally by the international community. [2]. The Peruvian government has stated that it might turn to the international court at The Hague to solve the dispute.^[1]
This law was heavily criticized in both Chile and Peru. In Peru nationalists saw that as a proof of that Chile don't care about the international treaties that defines the border to Peru. In Chile politicians were upset of that the friendly government of Alan Garcia may chill down the good relations and gestures he had started toward Chile.

References

1. “Peru-Chile Sea Dispute May Go to The Hague” Lima, January 27, 2007 Prensa Latina [3] (accessed January 28 2007)

External links

★ Ley Nº 20.175 (Law creating the region, in Spanish)

★ Constitutional Court sentence (in Spanish)