MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile apologizes for military helicopter flying into Argentine airspace

“There was indeed an unauthorized overflight over Argentine airspace,” van Klaveren owned up

Chilean authorities admitted Monday that a military helicopter had flown into Argentine airspace last Friday in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz. Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren described the incident as “a mistake” and insisted that the case had been handled through the proper diplomatic channels. Argentina sent a consultation note on this matter, to which “a response has been given,” he explained.

“The chargé d'affaires of our embassy in Buenos Aires met with his counterparts of the South American Directorate, of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, and delivered the response note,” the minister said. “Basically what the response note says is that a mistake was indeed made”, he admitted. “There was indeed an unauthorized overflight over Argentine airspace. It was an extremely brief overflight, as we were informed by the Army and the Defense Ministry, and indeed this error occurred,” he went on.

He also recalled a previous incident in which Argentina built solar panels in Chilean territory by mistake and stressed that cooperation and dialogue were essential to resolve these differences. He added that Chile was committed to “maintaining the normality of this relationship” as instructed by President Gabriel Boric Font, who was keen on overcoming recent “episodes and differences that have arisen” with the Libertarian Government of Javier Milei.

Boric met Monday with van Klaveren and Chile's Ambassador to Argentina, José Antonio Viera-Gallo. “Our relationship goes beyond the occasional differences that may occur at the level of their top leaders,” van Klaveren reckoned.

Last week, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Toto Caputo dubbed Boric a Communist who was sinking Chile, and Milei endorsed those statements, thus sparking another diplomatic controversy. Chile delivered a letter of protest to Argentina's ambassador in Santiago Jorge Faurie and Boric asked for “more humility” from Milei in some public statements.