The Chilean consul in La Paz, Jorge Canelas, has affirmed that his country has finished demining its border with Bolivia, where antipersonnel and antitank mines were laid during the 1970s, and is now in the process of seeking international certification.
The Chilean consul in La Paz, Jorge Canelas, has affirmed that his country has finished demining its border with Bolivia, where antipersonnel and antitank mines were laid during the 1970s, and is now in the process of seeking international certification. “With a great deal of effort, we’ve succeeded in doing it, and now we’re happy to say that we’ve now finished the process of demining the border with Bolivia, and the only thing left to do is to certify this demining,” the diplomat affirmed in an interview with the daily La Prensa. According to the newspaper, there used to be 42 mine fields along the Bolivian-Chilean border, with nearly 23,000 antipersonnel mines. The demining process began in 2005, within the framework of the Ottawa Convention of 1999. Chile committed itself at that time to eliminating the 143,000 antipersonnel and antitank mines laid in more than 100 minefields located on its borders with Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.