Chilean President Gabriel Boric traveled to the South Pole in Antarctica on Friday, January 3, a place where “no other Latin American president has set foot,” Chilean government sources told CNN in Spanish.
Boric led the historic two-day voyage, dubbed Operation Polar Star III , to expand environmental monitoring of pollutants in Antarctica, the Chilean government said in a statement.
Accompanied by scientists, commanders of the Armed Forces (FF.AA.) and government ministers, he left Santiago de Chile for Punta Arenas. From there, the group made several stops before arriving at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station , operated by the United States (US).
While Chile has historically carried out scientific activity in the northern sector of Antarctica, the government of the neighboring country intends to expand research towards the west of the continent, according to its statement.
Regarding his trip to the South Pole, Boric said: “It is an honor and a pride to be here, with the capabilities of the Chilean State in coordination with different institutions of the world, starting with our own,” emphasizing that: “It is a milestone for us. This is a milestone for us. It is the first time that a Chilean and Latin American president visits the South Pole,” he said.
ICN noted that the Chilean president reaffirmed his country's commitment to the protection of Antarctica and its role in global science. "It is also a ratification of our claim to sovereignty in this space. From here everything is north: there are only 12 flags flying, one of them is the Chilean flag," he added.
The BBC noted that only two other world leaders had visited the South Pole before Boric , they were the prime ministers of New Zealand (Helen Clark, in 2007) and Norway (Jens Stolenberg, in 2011).
In January 2024, Argentine President Javier Milei traveled to Antarctica, but only visited two of the thirteen bases his country has operating in that region, but did not reach the milestone of reaching the South Pole, the BBC reported.
Countries claiming sovereignty over Antarctica
Antarctica is one of the largest land areas in the world. Seven countries claim parts of its vast 14 million square kilometer territory. These nations are: Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Norway, New Zealand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“The first to establish a permanent base in the region and declare sovereignty there was Argentina, in 1904. The Orcadas Base is the oldest Antarctic scientific station still in operation ,” the BBC rightly noted, adding that Argentina considers the region “an extension of its southernmost province, Tierra del Fuego, as well as the Malvina Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.”
However, the United Kingdom, which claims the Malvina Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, made its own Antarctic claim in 1908, four years after Argentina's, claiming a region that completely encompasses the sector claimed by the Argentines.
Chile added its own claim many years later, in 1940, also on the basis that it was a natural extension of its territory.
Boric 's visit comes "at an important time for Chile's scientific efforts in the region," his office said. Chile has in the past concentrated its research in the northern part of Antarctica, but the South American country hopes to expand its efforts to the Bellingshausen and Weddell seas, according to the presidential statement, which the BBC reported.
What riches does Antarctica hide?
One of the main reasons has to do with the wealth of abundant natural resources that potentially lie beneath this enormous layer of ice.
"There's a reason why geologists often get the most prominent place [in Antarctic science bases] ," notes documentary filmmaker and journalist Matthew Teller , who has written extensively for the BBC about the white continent.
Although oil and mining exploration is prohibited by the Antarctic Treaty, exploration for scientific purposes is possible. Experts have estimated that there are some 200 billion barrels of oil under Antarctic soil: "Much more than Kuwait or Abu Dhabi," Teller told the BBC.
However, it is not feasible to exploit these resources today, because - in addition to the fact that it is expressly prohibited - the cost of extraction would be too high. This is because, unlike the Arctic, which is mainly made up of frozen ocean, Antarctica is a rocky continent covered in ice. And this layer of ice can reach four kilometres in depth.
Building offshore oil platforms near the Antarctic coast, believed to contain vast oil and gas deposits, would also be very expensive because the water there freezes in winter.
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