NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DAILY (CABLE)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005505094
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: April 18, 2011
• Case Number: F-2009-01666
• Publication Date: December 13, 1978

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 FEATURE ARTICLE
ARGENTINA-CHILE: Background of Dispute
by
miss on the major issues.
The dispute between Argentina and Chile over the
Beagle Channel and related territorial claims is typical
of many South American boundary problems that stem from
early, ambiguously worded agreements and treaties formu-
lated before accurate maps were available. Recent ef-
forts at negotiation and arbitration have failed, largely
because neither aide is prepared to accept any oompro-
The Beagle Channel serves as an alternate route to
the Strait of Magellan and to the course around Cape
Horn for travel between the Atlantic and the Pacific
Oceans. A treaty negotiated in 1881 stipulated that the
boundary between Argentina and Chile should run north-
south through Tierra del Fuego, dividing Isla Grande
into two parts, with Argentina getting the eastern part
and Chile the western part. All islands along the At-
lantic coast were to belong to Argentina; those south of
the Beagle Channel as far as Cape Horn and g the
Pacific coast were to belong to Chile.
gentine.
The Chileans soon claimed that the north-south line
dividing Isla Grande was to stop at the northern shore
of the Beagle Channel, so that the channel itself as well
as all territory to the south belonged to Chile. The
Argentines countered that the north-south line reaches
midchannel and that a portion of the channel belongs to
them. The Chileans also held that the channel extends
eastward as far as Cabo San Pio, making the small is-
lands of Picton, Lennox, and Nueva theirs; the Argentines
claimed that the channel turns southward to the west of
Picton and Lennox, and the islands are, therefore, Ar-
Picton, Lennox, and Nueva have no more than a dozen
or so Chilean residents and no Argentines. With the pos-
sible exception of some nitrate deposits, they contain
no known mineral or other resources of significance. F_
 In recent years, however# the importance of Tierra
del Fuego has grown. Oilfields and enormous sheep
ranches occupy the northern part of the region. In the
south, Ushuaia, Argentina, has grown to a town of 6,000
inhabitants, with an airfield, a naval base, a hydro-
electric plant, and a road that-allows-access to the
northern part of the island.
Chile maintains a small naval base at Puerto
Williams, south of the Beagle Channel on Isla Navarino.
The town has an airstrip, a radio station, a hotel, and
a civilian population of about 700.
A series of incidents, including one in 1967 in
which a Chilean PT boat was fired at by an Argentine
patrol ship, led Chile to seek British arbitration of
the lingering channel dispute. Argentina rejected the
idea but-signed a treaty in 1972 submitting the claim
to the International Court of Justice. The Court's ver-
diet wnuld an fo-th British for approval or disapproval.
in May 1977, the Court decided that the Beagle
Channel should be divided between the two countries and
the disputed islands awarded to Chile. Implementation of
the decision, which was accepted by the British, was set
for February 1978. In December 1977, however, Argentina--
which had already indicated it would not accept the
Court's ruling--began a press campaign and a number of
economic and military moves to prompt concessions from
Presidents Videla and Pinochet met in Mendoza, Ar-
gentina, in January 1978 and in Puerto Montt, Chile, in
February and signed agreements creating a joint commis-
sion and outlining a phased negotiating process. The
first phase ended in April without. any significant prog-
ress.
In the second phase of negotiations, attention
shifted away from the islands in the mouth of the Beagle
Channel to a number of smaller islands to the south, in-
cluding Evout, Barnevelt, and Hornos. Argentina wants a
boundary line that would run through these islands be-
fore the line turns south along the Cape Horn meridian
or, better yet, a boundary that would place one or more
 of the islands entirely in Argentine territory. Intru-
sion of the Chileans'into the Atlantic is resented by
the Argentines, who feel that it breaks a gentlemen's
power.
agreement between the two countries that Argentina should
be an Atlantic power and Chile exclusively a Pacific
Argentina is particularly concerned about the ef-
fect the Court's awards to Chile might have on control
of ocean resources; both countries claim sovereignty
shelf petroleum and coastal fisheries are the resources
of greatest interest, but the value and the extent of
over resources within 200 miles of the coast. Continental
these in the area are unknown.
An additional Argentine concern is that the Court
ruling will adversely affect Argentina's Antarctic claim
which overlaps that of Chile.
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