Regional border conflicts simmer, but are not expected to erupt.

AutorGaudin, Andres

At a time that the many existing border conflicts between South American countries are either resolved or are latent but dormant, Venezuela, Guyana, Bolivia, and Chile have reactivated disputes (NotiSur, Nov. 1, 2013). Even in countries with relatively like-minded governments, the leaders are making use of verbal artillery and have seemingly forgotten what good diplomatic manners are. Regardless, regional international relations specialists believe that one need not fear confrontations will go beyond rhetoric and lead to a quasi war.

"None of our countries is an attractive market for the arms industry where it can put lobbyists to work. Besides, our societies are too mature to allow any politician to go too far and risk the domestic peace currently being achieved after having suffered decades of civil-military dictatorships," said Lido Iacomini, an Argentine analyst of Latin American issues. "Likewise, the political and social leadership should remain vigilant lest someday we wake up to a nasty surprise," he added in a piece published by the Agencia Paco Urondo, an alternative Web site associated with the university community.

In the last quarter century, several bilateral disputes have been surmounted. In 1991, Argentina and Chile signed a peace accord that resolved border problems at 21 locations in the Andes mountains (NotiSur, Jan. 8, 1999). In 1978, a year in which both countries lived under dictatorships, they were a step away from war, a drama that was avoided with help from a special envoy of Pope John Paul II.

Ecuador and Peru resorted to weapons in 1941, 1981, and 1995 in a dispute regarding the Cordillera del Condor, a mountain chain in the Andes. After nearly two centuries of keeping this conflict alive, the two countries signed a peace agreement in 1998 (NotiSur, Oct. 30, 1998).

On March 1, 2008, Ecuador and Colombia lived the last chapter of the historical tension along their Andean border that, according to Columbia, had fallen under the control of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) guerrilla forces protecting their encampments in the jungle on the Ecuadoran side of the border. On that day, a Colombian air squadron killed the rebel chief Raul Reyes in a bombing that also ended the lives of another 19 persons including an Ecuadoran and two Mexican students (NotiSur, March 7, 2008). On Dec. 13 of that year, a Washington Post investigation concluded that the military action was the result of an undercover...

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