Chile and Bolivia sign trade and energy accords in diplomatic breakthrough

Chilean President José Antonio Kast met Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz in La Paz on October 16, 2026, marking the first Chilean state visit to Bolivia in 71 years. Driven by a regional rightward alignment and shared alliances with U.S. President Donald Trump, the leaders signed trade, energy, and security accords. While setting aside historical maritime territorial disputes, the nations aimed to address Bolivia's fuel crisis and bolster joint anti-narcotics efforts.

Historic presidential meeting in La Paz

• ▪Bolivian authorities greeted Chilean President José Antonio Kast with military honors in Plaza Murillo outside the presidential palace in La Paz on October 16, 2026
• ▪Chilean President José Antonio Kast met Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz in La Paz on October 16, 2026, marking the first official state visit by a Chilean president to Bolivia in 71 years

Status of full diplomatic relations

• ▪Chile and Bolivia have not maintained ambassador-level diplomatic relations since 1978, though the two nations maintain consulates and cooperate on trade and immigration
• ▪Bolivian Minister of the Presidency Fernando Aramayo stated that restoring full ambassador-level diplomatic ties with Chile was premature and required creating proper conditions

Political alignment with the Trump administration

• ▪The governments of Chile and Bolivia joined the Trump administration's Shield of the Americas coalition against drug trafficking to build regional security partnerships in Latin America
• ▪Newly elected conservative presidents José Antonio Kast of Chile and Rodrigo Paz of Bolivia are allied with U.S. President Donald Trump amid a regional rightward political shift in South America

Bilateral trade and transit cooperation

• ▪Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz offered Chile access to the Paraguay-Paraná waterway connecting Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay to the Atlantic Ocean
• ▪Bolivia sends approximately 70 percent of its foreign trade through ports in northern Chile, having been landlocked since losing its Pacific coastline in the 1879-84 War of the Pacific
• ▪On October 16, 2026, Chile and Bolivia signed bilateral agreements on trade, mining, energy, and security cooperation to combat organized crime along their 535-mile border

Omission of Pacific ocean claim

• ▪Former Bolivian President Evo Morales criticized leaving Bolivia's Pacific sovereign land claim off the October 16, 2026 summit agenda as an affront to historical memory
• ▪Kast and Paz's October 16, 2026 agenda in La Paz omitted Bolivia's long-standing demand for a Pacific ocean corridor, which former Bolivian President Evo Morales pursued in a legal case lost at the International Court of Justice in 2018

Bolivia's energy crisis

• ▪Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz faces domestic protests over his decision to eliminate national fuel subsidies amid severe fuel shortages and declining hydrocarbon production
• ▪Bolivia previously exported natural gas to neighboring countries before experiencing declining hydrocarbon production and widespread domestic fuel shortages