MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine-Chilean controversy over tourism map

An official Argentine map which allegedly includes a disputed border area in the Andes ice fields is turning into another controversial issue with neighbouring Chile which is claiming a rectification of the map.

Last week Chile presented a formal complaint about the map recalling that cartography of the Andean Southern Ice Field must be mapped and demarcated following the 1998 agreement signed by then presidents Eduardo Frei and Carlos Menem.

Chilean Foreign Affaire Minister Alejandro Foxley confirmed Monday that a "written complaint about the map which does not correspond to the effective boundaries situation was addressed to the Argentine Foreign Affaire Ministry".

However on Tuesday Argentina's Deputy Tourism Secretary Daniel Pablo Aguilera confirmed that the disputed map was "official".

"What I can say is that all the maps we print with our tourists attractions, particularly in our web site have been approved by the Military Geographic Institute. I mean we use their cartography", said Aguilera.

When asked if any precautions were taken regarding the disputed areas which could eventually lead to a diplomatic impasse, Aguilera insisted that "the maps we use are approved by the Military Geographic Institute". Furthermore he admitted "having received no instructions regarding the incident".

Chilean officials' original reaction when the alleged overlapping was discovered over a week ago in the Argentine Tourism Office site was to minimize the incident and consider the whole episode an "error".

According to Chilean sources and following on the 1998 Ice Fields agreement reached by presidents Frei and Menem, which solved 22 of 23 pending binational boundary disputes, a 60 kilometres area extending from Mount Fits Roy to the Murallon hill must be shown as blank until the joint boundary committee reaches a consensus.