Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1 September 2006: An Argentine tourist map that put disputed Patagonian glaciers on Argentina’s side of the border has inflamed already tense relations with its neighbouring country Chile. Chile sent a letter to Buenos Aires to complain about the official tourism map recently, reviving the unresolved dispute over part of an icy border area at the southern tip of South America.
A territorial dispute nearby pushed the two countries to the brink of war in the 1970s. A partial agreement was eventually reached in the following years but one element of the dispute remains unresolved. On August 30, Argentina responded to Chile’s complaints by calling for renewed efforts to agree on the border’s route.
“The Foreign Ministry has instructed the border commission to reiterate to its counterpart the need to start demarcation work as soon as possible,” Argentina’s government statement said.
