Chilean court ruling averts looming border dispute with Peru

SANTIAGO, Chile: A potential border dispute was avoided when a Chilean court struck down part of a law that Peru said could be construed as an attempt by Chile to encroach on its maritime territory.

Chile's government said it will respect the ruling, which was issued Friday by the Constitutional Court.

The law, passed by Chile's Congress in December, created a new Arica-Parinacota administrative region near Chile's northern border with Peru. The court said it was unconstitutional because it defined its boundaries based on a maritime landmark between the two countries. The court said that was not what Congress intended when it passed the bill.

Peru had objected to the law, which it said threatened its sovereignty over its maritime territory.

In the Peruvian capital of Lima, the government welcomed the court's decision.

The ruling "is good news because it eliminates a source dispute between Peru and Chile," Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde said.

Last year, Peru passed a law stating that the maritime boundaries between the two countries, which fought two wars in the 19th century, have never been defined.

Chile replied that those limits in a fishing rich area in the Pacific Ocean were permanently and firmly defined in two treaties in the 1950s.

While accepting the court's ruling, Chile's government on Friday repeated its position that the maritime borders between the two countries were not in question and have been recognized by the international community.