The Peruvian government appointed an Advisory Commission to study the case. General
Mercado Jarrín was among its members, and the Commission’s debates became a
testimony of the fading relevance of geopolitics as the interpretive prism through which
policy decisions were conceived
195
. General Mercado Jarrín expressed his opposition to the
principle that Bolivia should obtain a sovereign access to the Pacific through the Arica
province, on the grounds that it would “affect our expectations and interrupt the
geopolitical continuity between Tacna and Arica”
196
. He also opposed the exchange of
territories proposed by Chile, arguing that a Chilean presence next to the south-eastern
slope of Peru’s Andean region would pose the possibility of an enveloping offensive as a
constant
threat
197
. In spite of these arguments, in its recommendations the Peruvian
Commission did not even address Chile’s request of a territorial compensation from
Bolivia, since it was considered an strictly bilateral issue. Furthermore, the Commission
accepted the idea of sovereign Bolivian access to the Pacific through the northern fringe of
the Arica province, although conditioned on Chile’s acceptance of a particularly stringent
proposal: “The establishment in the Arica province, next to Bolivia’s outlet, of a territorial
area under the shared sovereignty of the three states involved (Bolivia, Chile and Peru)”
198
.
In November 20 of 1976, these recommendations became the official response of the
Peruvian government to the consultation submitted for its consideration by the governments
of Bolivia and Chile. Six days later, the Chilean government formally announced that it
declined to consider Peru’s response, leading to a deadlock in the negotiations. This did not
lead to any significant change in the status of the bilateral relations between Chile and Peru.
It did lead, however, to the Bolivian government’s decision to sever its diplomatic ties with
Chile.
195
Indeed, the mere fact that four of its five members were civilians, and that the only
member
of the military included in the Commission was a retired army officer (General
Mercado
Jarrín), was already an indicative of this.
196
Mercado Jarrín 1997.
197
Ibid.
198
Pease and Filomeno 1977 (A), p. 2275.
Convention