Western Hemisphere 187
The dispute became militarized on November 6, 1965, when Argentine gendarmes
killed a Chilean carabinero and captured three more in the Laguna del Desierto. Chil-
eans protested to the Argentine embassy in Santiago, which was housed in an office
building. They hurled rocks and broke windows, and someone on the floor above the
embassy broke the Argentine flagpole. The Chilean government flew reinforcements
of policemen to the scene and demanded the return of the dead Chilean officer and the
three captured officers. The Argentine government and military were split on how to
handle the dispute. The government preferred a peaceful settlement, while the military
preferred the use of force. A few days after the incident the Argentine government
granted Chile’s request and returned the policemen. After a few weeks “military
sources” told the Argentine press that the military had issued orders for soldiers to
take advanced positions in Laguna del Desierto. In addition, there were reports that
the military planned to take over the Argentine response to the crisis if the government
failed to settle it soon.
Under this pressure, Argentine foreign minister Zavala Ortiz and Chilean ambas-
sador to Argentina Videla Lira signed an agreement on December 5 to continue
negotiations on the border dispute. On December 11, ministers of defense from both
countries met in Balcameda to install a joint border commission to demarcate the
border.
MID#1609
Dispute Number: 1609
Date(s): August 18, 1967 to May 7, 1968
Participants: 155 Chile/160 Argentina
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (Negotiated)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Chile and Argentina had long contested sovereignty over the Beagle
Channel, a strait in Tierra del Fuego. A border treaty of 1881 granted the eastern half
of Tierra del Fuego to Argentina and the western half to Chile, but the demarcation
team incorrectly assigned Lennox, Nueva, and Picton islands to Argentina. Argentina
then laid claim to those islands.
This particular dispute began on August 18, 1967, when Chilean naval vessels
confronted an Argentine fishing vessel, the Cruz del Sur, which was fishing 200
yards off Gable Island, in the disputed area. Chilean naval personnel boarded the
Cruz del Sur, interviewed its crew, and seized its fishing nets before the Argen-
tine navy intervened and saw that the Cruz del Sur received its nets. The navy
personnel from both sides then retreated, and the Cruz del Sur continued to fish.
On November 28, Argentine ships and planes fired warning shots at a Chilean
warship, Quidora, that passed within two miles of Argentine naval base at Ush-
uaia. Chile promptly removed the captain of the Quidora. On December 11, Chile
requested British arbitration in the dispute, but Argentina rejected arbitration on
the 23rd because it felt that Britain, which had a territorial dispute with Argentina
over the Falklands, would be biased.
Chile and Argentina reinforced their military presence in the area early the next
year with naval and air assets. The last reported military activity in this dispute took