Last week, Chilean President Gabriel Boric became the first Latin American leader to visit the South Pole. Boric traveled from Punta Arenas, his home region at the southern tip of Chile, to Chile’s Union Glacier Station in Antarctica on board a military C-130. He then spent several hours visiting the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station before returning home.
Boric brought his ministers of environment and defense on the trip, symbolic of the strategic concerns currently playing out on the polar continent. On the environment, climate change is drastically altering weather patterns and the ecosystems around the Antarctic, putting fisheries and wildlife preservation at risk and reshaping the land on which Chile has a claim. Changes in Antarctic ice melt directly affect Chile’s coastal communities and marine resources. And the vast majority of tourists and researchers who travel to Antarctica make the trip through South America, adding to the potential economic impact of a changing climate there.
Meanwhile, flying down on a military aircraft and bringing the country’s minister of defense demonstrates the very real power politics behind the trip, which Boric called “a confirmation of [Chile’s] claim to sovereignty” over part of Antarctica. Chile is one of seven countries to make such claims. While none of them are recognized by the broader international community, Chile’s geographical proximity to the continent have historically increased the importance of its claims to the country’s leadership and population, while also giving rise to real security concerns compared to other countries with claims, like the U.K. and Norway.