LA PAZ, Bolivia (CNS) — Bolivian President Evo Morales asked Pope Francis to intervene in a case of nine Bolivians imprisoned in neighboring Chile. Morales, who hosted Pope Francis on a two-day visit to Bolivia in 2015, asked for a papal envoy to be sent to calm what he claims to be rising tensions and a miscarriage of justice.
“I beg you to intervene in the best possible way to quickly resolve this case,” Morales said in a May 10 letter to Pope Francis. “Justice must conclude with the liberation of nine Bolivian functionaries.” He said those in prison were being “deprived of their human rights in Iquique, Chile.”
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The nine Bolivians, including seven customs workers and two soldiers, were detained March 19 in a border area and accused of robbery, carrying weapons and importing contraband, according to the Jesuit-run news service Agencia de Noticias Fides, based in La Paz.
The Bolivian government says Chilean national police detained the nine citizens on Bolivian soil as they carried out anti-smuggling activities. Chilean officials contend the Bolivians had hijacked a bus.
Bolivia and Chile share a border of more than 400 miles, but do not have diplomatic relations. The sour relations are the product of a long history: Chile defeated Bolivia and Peru in the War of the Pacific in 1879 and seized a mineral-rich region of Bolivia, turning Bolivia into a landlocked country.
Access to the sea is a common call from Bolivia, but Chile considers the case closed.
Morales has tried to draw Pope Francis into the issue. He told the pope in a welcoming address July 8, 2015, in La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital, “You have arrived in a country mutilated by its lack of access to the sea,” and gave him a gift, the “Book of the Sea.”
Pope Francis responded by saying, “Dialogue is indispensable,” along with “building bridges instead of building walls.”
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It is rather interesting that a Bolivian President —who not only has claimed to believe in Animism— but, on July 24, 2009, declared “the Catholic Church is a symbol of European Colonialism, therefore it must disappear from Bolivia” now calls himself a “brother” to the Pope. A bit of background: When Francis I visited Bolivia in 2015, President Evo Morales welcomed him to a “mutilated nation.” (Further background: In 1904 Bolivia officially renounced all claims to sea access after a convoluted plot to eradicate Chileans from lands they whimsically contended they “inherited” from colonial times led to a war she lost.) With such loaded welcoming words, Morales sought to elicit Francis “position” on his demand to a sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. Francis suggested “dialogue” was the only avenue to reach understanding between nations. Morales —a master of transforming any cordial comment on “solid support”— called a press conference and announced the Pope backed him and called him “brother.” Now Morales is trying to cash on His Holiness’ offer “to be of service” (In the context of a Thank You letter from Francis to his hosts) to intercede for a band of Bolivian highway bandits who were arrested after they subdued (by gunfire) a fully loaded semitrailer’s crew, and attempted to drive the stolen truck to their side of the border. It turned out seven were Custom’s functionaries, and two active Bolivian Army officers practicing a common Bolivian routine: sequester a fully-loaded truck on charges of smuggling, to later sell vehicle and cargo for personal profit. This time they fell victims of their own impatience… they did not wait for the truck to cross into Bolivia. Those are the men Evo wants the Pope to intercede for.