MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Piñera reaffirms Chile’s commitment to Antarctica, the continent of the future

The Chilean president with his Ecuadorian peer visit Antarctica

President Sebastian Piñera described Antarctica as the continent of the future and confirmed Chile’s commitment to the values of peace and environment conservation represented by the southern pole mass.

Piñera made on Friday afternoon a brief tour of an Antarctic Chilean base together with Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, thus honouring an invitation to his peer which back in November had to be cancelled because of adverse weather conditions.

“This trip symbolizes our commitment, as a country, to Antarctica a continent dedicated to peace, the conservation of nature and the future of mankind” said Piñera.

“As the continent of the future we must care and protect Antarctica; besides as Chileans we have a commitment to the principles of the Antarctic Treaty and system which we must sustain and is ingrained in our Antarctic culture”.

The two presidents toured the Chilean Air Force base Eduardo Frei Montalva and later the Ecuadorian scientific base Pedro Vicente Maldonado, where they were honoured with copies of a commemorative plaque of the event.

President Correa arrived in Chile Thursday afternoon and spent the night at an official camp residence close to the city of Valdivia, from where Friday early morning the two presidents flew to Punta Arenas for the journey to Antarctica. It was Correa’s first trip ever to the Antarctic continent.

However the journey was not exempt of political turmoil for the Chilean president when he called at Punta Arenas, a city that during January was involved in a protracted conflict over gas rates with the central government.

To protest the hike of gas rates, during two weeks a ‘citizens’ assembly’’ organized by the private sector and with the support of Magallanes region elected representatives virtually paralyzed Punta Arenas, cutting it off from the rest or the country leaving thousands of tourists stranded and forcing several cruise vessels to cancel visits.

“Magallanes needs and deserves a special treatment regarding the cost of gas, particularly for homes, retail and small businesses but gas is not an unlimited resource, it’s scarce and if we don’t look after it we could be involved in an energy crisis”, said Piñera on arriving at Punta Arenas airport.

The Chilean Executive office arguing that Piñera was on an official trip to Antarctica and not a visit to Punta Arenas, only granted a fifteen minutes interview to local authorities, which was described as the president’s ‘express visit’ by the local press while elected congress members refused to accept the terms of meeting and did not show up in protest. The ‘citizens’ assembly’ declared President Piñera ‘persona non grata’

Before taking off for Antarctica Piñera said he was the president of “all Chileans” and recalled that Mines and Energy minister was in charge of the gas rates negotiations, “which can only advance with dialogue and the willingness to reach an agreement”.