ACTION BY CHILE TO ANNEX TERRITORY

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25427, 25 February 1948, Page 7

ACTION BY CHILE TO ANNEX TERRITORY

President Signs Message At Punta Arenas “RACE FOR ANTARCTIC WON” (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, February 23. The President of Chile (Mr Gabriel Gonzalez Videla) to-day acted to bring Antarctica within the political boundaries of Chile, says the Associated Press correspondent at Punta Arenas. In the presence of residents of Punta Arenas, which is the capital of Magallanes, in the extreme south of Chile, he signed a message to the Chilean Congress asking it to join to the Magallanes province all the territories south of Beagle Channel (which lies about 100 miles north of Cape Horn). In a speech Mr Videla said that the Antarctic, as a department of the Magallanes province, would have a separate capital on Navarino Island, below the Straits of Magellan.

“From to-day Chile extends from Arica, on the Peruvian border, to the South Pole,” he said. “Chile’s titles and right* to the Antarctic are so legitimate that another State outside the Continent has had to resort to the threat of attacking our military bases and using the cannon of its invincible fleet to justify its imperialistic intentions to colonise our lands. “I am sure Chile has won the race for the Antarctic,” said Mr Videla.

He pictured the capital on Navarino Island as a supply centre for settlements which would be established in the Antarctic, and he referred to “uncountable mineral riches hidden under the frozen Antarctic soils,” which he said would be put to the service of the Chilean economy.

The Associated Press correspondent in Buenos Aires reports that the Argentine naval squadron, which is anchored off lonely Deception Island, today unveiled a portrait of the President of Argentina (General Juan Peron) in support of the Argentine claims in the area. In a broadcast describing the ceremony an announcer referred to the Argentine weatherstation on the island as “the most southerly village of our country.” He did not say whether the British weather observers on the island attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, General Peron himself, in a speech at Cordoba, in the Argentine interior, said: “Argentina is a peaceful country, but we have to convince those who infringe our sovereignty.”

It is officiElly announced in Buenos Aires that Argentina and Chile will begin negotiations this week to establish the boundaries of the Antarctic territory which the two nations are disputing with Britain. The South Polar territories claimed by Argentina and Chile overlap each other, as well as overlapping the British claims. The two South American nations hope to iron out their territorial conflicts, in order to present a united front against Britain’s claims.