73 Years Since the Assumption of the Chilean Antarctic Territory

Infogate, Monday, May 31, 2021

“The Chilean Antarctic Territory belongs to Chile and no one else: It is time to understand what happened on February 17, 1948, and that in these matters we must act with firmness and strategic clarity.”

This Sea Month 2021, which focused on the Antarctic, seas, and southern zone of Chile, concluded brilliantly with a strategic political knock-out action carried out by the Navy. The action consisted of the donation of a copy to the National Historical Museum of what was written by the President Gabriel González Videla on February 17, 1948, when he inaugurated the Chilean Base ‘Sovereignty’ in the South Shetland Islands, clearly stating in the act of assumption that reaffirmed Chile’s rights in that part of the planet and making it clear to the rest of the countries in the world that this was Chilean territory, extending from Arica to the South Pole, and indicating clearly that we were willing to give our lives if necessary for that part of Chile.

It is this type of action, what González Videla wrote and the remembrance 73 years later by the Navy, with the public delivery by its commander-in-chief of what was written by the then head of state, that generates sovereignty and sends messages both to Chileans and to other countries interested in that part of the world.

The Chilean Antarctic territory belongs to Chile and no one else. It is time to be clear about this and to be willing to defend it against foreign interests. It is time to understand what happened on February 17, 1948, and that in these matters we must act with firmness and strategic clarity.

Richard Kouyoumdjian
Vice President AthenaLab