BUENOS AIRES (AFP)--Bolivian President Evo Morales and
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo signed a historic accord here
Monday, ending a boundary dispute that led to a catastrophic war in
the last century.
In a solemn ceremony chaired by Argentine leader Cristina
Kirchner, both presidents agreed that the dispute over the Chaco
region - where a war between 1932 and 1935 left more than 100,000
people dead - was brought on by foreign interests.
The armed conflict "came from outside, driven by transnational
corporations competing for our natural resources," said Morales
after signing the agreement, which agreed to the terms of the
Bolivian-Paraguayan Boundary Demarcation Commission.
"These are new times of peace, friendship and fraternity between
the peoples of South America," he added.
The Western companies seeking energy riches in the vast region
at the continent's heart were U.S. Standard Oil, backed by Bolivia,
and the Anglo-Dutch Shell Oil company, supported by Paraguay.
Lugo expressed hope that the two nation's bountiful natural
resources could in the future "be developed and used by both
countries without any foreign intervention."
He said that "never again" should the two countries let outside
influences promote distrust and suspicion that would "poison our
relations."
At the end of the ceremony, held at the palacial Casa Rosada in
Buenos Aires, Kirchner also alluded to the interests of powerful
oil companies that had shaped the region.
The war between Bolivia and Paraguay "smelt of oil, as did many
wars in those days and now," she said.