(From Santiago, Chile) On April 29, the Argentina Army inaugurated with fanfare the “Maritime Traffic Surveillance and Control Post Milestone 1”, on the exact border that divides the trans-Andean country with Chile in the middle of Patagonia. The problem? Some solar panels used to provide electricity were passed three meters to Chilean territory, causing discomfort in the Chilean government that formally claimed the Casa Rosada.
The Argentine ambassador, Jorge Faurierecognized the error and this Wednesday, in conversation with Radio BíoBío, he put cold cloths to the matter, ensuring that “It is not such an impressive workthey are solar panels placed but they did not check carefully what the coordinates were that marked the limit.”
“Whoever installed the solar panels is a company that donated those panels. He was guided by a fence of a ranch that is in the area,” he said in the interview.
Faurie said that “in reality he should have been guided by the satellite coordinates that demarcate limits…the issue is that moving them, at this time, would not be possible. “We would have to wait for the summer.”
With a conciliatory tone, the ambassador offered an alternative “that we are considering and talking to the Chilean authorities: that those panels that are electricity providers could also supply the Chilean sidewhich would be useful for the garrison they have there,” he concluded.
For his part, the chancellor Alberto van Klaveren, who is on tour in Europe with the president Gabriel BoricI lower the profile of the controversy.
“We were informed of this situation. Turn our border direction and boundaries quickly verified the error on the ground that had been committed by this Argentine company that did the installation. We have a very extensive border with Argentina and this is not an absolutely exceptional fact, sometimes these types of errors occur,” said Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren from the presidential tour of Europe.
He added that “we believe that this is a mistake obviously made in good faith and as appropriate, we duly presented it to the Argentine government through the corresponding channels.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs finally stated that “we are going to look for a quick solution to this problem. A large part of the installation is obviously in Argentine territory and there is a relatively small portion that remained in Chilean territory that must be corrected and we will see the most effective way to correct it. We are going to evaluate the situation obviously according to the ground conditions and also the meteorological conditions”.
However, the alarmist reactions did not wait and it was the senator Pedro Araya (PPD), president of the Defense Commission of the Upper House, who opened the fire, pointing out that even if it is a small error of three meters, the work should be demolished and that they will summon Chancellor Alberto van Klaveren to Congress to explain the controversy.
“We believe that the Foreign Ministry acts correctly when demanding explanations of the case and without a doubt, what is appropriate is the demolition of this infrastructure, given that it is located in Chilean territory”, Shooting.
For his part, the deputy Francisco Undurraga (Evópoli), president of the Defense Commission of the Lower House, was also “very worried”.
“Unfortunately, when we are talking about limits and bordersthe Government has to be extremely rigorous in demanding non-violation of it. We are very worried. If this had happened the other way around, the Argentine government would have been not so lax as was our Chancellor in his reaction,” he concluded.
