A majority of Peruvians are confident that an international court will rule favorably for the country in an upcoming maritime border dispute with Chile, according to state news agency Andina.
According to a poll by Datum Internacional, 70 percent of Peruvians think the International Court of Justice at The Hague will rule favorably for Peru in the dispute, while 13 percent believe Chile will win the case.
The ruling is expected to be announced in July.
Peru filed its complaint at the ICJ in January 2008, during President Alan Garcia’s administration. President Ollanta Humala has continued the same legal and foreign relations team, which is headed by Allan Wagner, former Foreign Relations minister.
The dispute dates back to the 1879 – 1883 War of the Pacific, in which Peru and Bolivia lost substantial territory to Chile. Central to the current row is 38,000 square kilometers, or about 14,500 square miles, of fishing-rich sea which Chile currently controls.
Chile says the current border, which runs parallel to the Equator, was established under the two agreements signed in the 1950s, which Peru claims were fishing treaties and that the maritime zone has never been settled.
Peru’s proposed border follows the countries’ south-western sloping border into the ocean, with the disputed area marked in dark blue in the map below.
