On December 4, the United Nations General Assembly voted in plenary session to implement the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, published as Document A/79/43 , entitled “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Eradication of Colonialism in All Its Forms and Manifestations.”
The draft resolution in its point 18 was approved “with 113 votes in favor, zero votes against and 63 abstentions, one of them from Chile, which seemed strange to us,” commented journalist Félix Madariaga Leiva , on the Pressenza portal.
It is worth noting that Chile is one of the 29 member countries of the Special Committee on Decolonization, also known as C-24.
“What reasons could our government have for abstaining from supporting the independence of peoples and countries still under colonialism?” Madariaga Leiva asked, adding: “Above all, we are confused that a country like ours, which was a Spanish colony for three centuries, does not vote in favour of this motion. Even more disappointing, but not strange, is that the media does not include this important information in its agenda.”
“More than 200 years have passed since Chile was liberated from the reign of Ferdinand VII and no, it is not normal to continue behaving like a colony, abstaining from voting to allow the control of large foreign powers, such as the United States, France and England, over small fiefdoms on the planet. It is not normal, it is not ethical, it is not fair ,” Madariaga Leiva said in his note.
As of December 2024, there are still 17 non-self-governing territories that are in the process of decolonization: Anguilla, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Guam, Cayman Islands, Malvina Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, United States Virgin Islands (US), Montserrat, New Caledonia, Pitcairn, French Polynesia, Saint Helena, Western Sahara, American Samoa, Tokelau. The usurping powers of these territories are the United States, France, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
For Madariaga Leiva , the Special Committee on Decolonization “has an arduous task ahead of it to abolish colonialism. New and modernizing policies are needed that take into account that we are in the 21st century. The dominant powers must abstain from any interested and particular decision on this matter or at least on those that concern their dominated territories.”
It should be noted that Chile was not the only American country to abstain against the eradication of colonialism, as Canada, Ecuador, Paraguay and the United States, with which Javier Milei's government is desperately seeking to form an alliance, also did so.
For Argentines, it is worth asking ourselves whether this change of position by the Chilean government regarding the eradication of colonialism is motivated by the recurrent episodes of grievances and disqualifications that add complexity to what the Escenario Mundial portal has described as “a bilateral relationship already marked by historical and recent disagreements, ranging from divergent positions on regional issues to sensitivity around the Malvinas Islands and the British presence in Latin America.”
Recently, the Chilean government delivered a formal note of protest to Argentina after the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo , disqualified President Gabriel Boric .
Caputo's comments regarding Boric were: “The cultural battle is key. Look at Chile, it is the country that lifted the most people out of poverty from the 1980s to 2010 and it neglected the cultural battle for a long time. Today they are practically governed by a communist who is about to sink them.”
The statement was made during a radio interview on Radio Mitre and sparked controversy in Santiago and tensions in bilateral relations.
Minister Caputo had already made similar comments about Boric's government during his speech at the beginning of December at the CPAC Foundation summit, which was attended by President Javier Milei . On that occasion, Caputo also contrasted the Chilean case with the Argentine one due to the need to sustain a "cultural battle" beyond economic policy actions.
Founded in 1964, the CPAC Foundation is the oldest conservative grassroots organization in the U.S. and “seeks to preserve and protect the values of life, liberty, and property for all Americans.” Although it currently presents itself as the think tank of the new global right, the foundation is already six decades old.
For Escenario Mundial, in this context, “Caputo's words and Chile's response reflect a climate that could hinder cooperation between the two countries in the short term.”
We can infer that the controversies and disagreements between both Latin American governments will continue, since in other issues of international politics, the position of submission and total alignment with the Anglo-Yankee Zionist axis by the government of Javier Milei led it, for example, to vote against the inclusion of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations or against the condemnation of Israel for the occupation of Palestinian territories, while the Boric government voted in favor of Palestine in both cases.
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