Chile’s president makes first state visit to Bolivia in more than 70 years

It looked like a red carpet welcome for a close friend and neighbor. The pomp, the smiles, and the handshakes as Bolivia's President Rodrigo Paz received his Chilean counterpart for the first state visit in 71 years were at the very least remarkable. Just seven months ago, Chile's newly inaugurated President José Antonio Kast had ordered deep ditches dug along its northern border with Bolivia, an initiative to keep out undocumented migrants, contraband, and drug traffickers from Bolivia. It only added to a dispute between two neighbors who don't have full diplomatic relations. They only have consular ties, hence Bolivia's consulate here in Santiago. Bolivia lost a war against Chile nearly 150 years ago, and it cost it nearly 400 kilometers of Pacific coastline. Ever since, Bolivia has been demanding that Chile give it a sovereign access or corridor to the ocean, which Chile has refused. And so for decades now, ties between both neighbors have fluctuated between tense and overtly hostile. But in an abrupt about-face, Bolivia's new conservative president, Rodrigo Paz, has decided that the challenge is not to resolve the past, but rather the present and a shared future for the benefit of both countries. We need to push our integration process because, as Chile's president says, if Bolivia progresses, so does Chile. It means that today, without forgetting the past, we begin to build the future of our nations together, that our children will not have to wait 70 years to see their presidents shake hands. Kast needs Bolivia's cooperation to consolidate his plan for a corridor to expel hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants by land, especially Venezuelans. But better economic integration and cooperation against contraband, drug trafficking and transnational crime are of strong mutual interest. They signed several agreements. In the meantime, the issue that has separated the two neighbors since the 19th century will be left for later. Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera, Santiago.