Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-jl) -- On Sunday, Chilean government spokesman Ricardo Lagos Weber strongly criticized Peruvian Chancellor Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde for claiming that the Chilean government is 'confusing' pending maritime limits with the land border agreement agreed upon in the early 1900s.

"We found the Chancellor's comments regarding our border issues to be extremely inappropriate," said Lagos.

Garcia stated that the position of Chilean President Michele Bachelet's administration is erroneously based on the land border established in 1929.

During the interview with Peru's CPN Radio, Peru's Chancellor stated that he sent an official letter of protest to Chilean Chancellor Alejandro Foxely in which he labled Chile's position on the current maritime limits as 'unacceptable.'

"This alleged confusion is being used to guarantee their maritime limit aspirations," the Peruvian diplomat said.

The Chilean government questioned Garcia's choice to express his comments through the media rather than by standard diplomatic avenues.

Lagos affirmed that the Chilean government will not use the media as a vehicle to perform its diplomatic functions.

Instead the Chilean government spokesman indicated that Chilean will respond to their Peruvian counterparts using traditional and 'more effective' diplomatic channels.