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Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru)
1873 treaty between Peru and Bolivia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Treaty of Defensive Alliance[upper-alpha 1] was a secret defense pact between Bolivia and Peru. Signed in the Peruvian capital, Lima, on February 6, 1873, the document was composed of eleven central articles that outlined its necessity and stipulations and one additional article that ordered the treaty to be kept secret until both contracting parties decided otherwise. The signatory states were represented by the Peruvian Foreign Minister José de la Riva-Agüero y Looz Corswaren and the Bolivian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Peru, Juan de la Cruz Benavente.
![]() Borders of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile in the Atacama prior to the treaty's signature in 1873 | |
Type | Defense pact[1] |
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Context | Atacama border dispute |
Signed | February 6, 1873 (1873-02-06) |
Location | Lima, Peru |
Negotiators | Jose de la Riva-Aguero (Peru) Juan de la Cruz (Bolivia) |
Signatories | Jose de la Riva-Aguero (Peru) Juan de la Cruz (Bolivia) |
Parties | Peru, Bolivia |
Language | Spanish |
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Ongoing border disputes between Bolivia and Chile worsened South America's tense political environment, which was made all the more precarious by a global economic depression. The system of mutual defense established between Bolivia and Peru sought to protect their national security and the regional balance of power by containing Chilean expansionism, which was fueled by Chile's economic ambitions over the mineral resources of the Atacama Desert.[2] The pact's stated intentions were to guarantee the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the contracting parties.
To improve the alliance from Chile, Peru attempted to have Argentina join the defense pact. Border disputes with Chile made Argentina's attachment to the alliance seem inevitable. However, territorial disagreements between Bolivia and Argentina and the possible interference of Brazil in favor of Chile prevented success. Argentina's possible inclusion into the Peruvian-Bolivian pact was still enough of a perceived threat that in 1881, Chile ensured it would not fight a two-front war by settling its borders, with Argentina by giving up substantial territorial aspirations in Patagonia.
In 1879, Peru mediated the diplomatic crisis caused by Bolivia's challenge to its boundary treaty with Chile. As well, Chile started a military occupation of Antofagasta (in Bolivia's Litoral Department). The mutual defense treaty then became a subject of contention and one of the reasons for the War of the Pacific starting in 1879.
Ever since, the treaty's usefulness, intentions, level of secrecy at the beginning of the war, and defensive nature have been subjected to debate by historians, political analysts, and politicians.