The United Nations' highest court set a maritime boundary between Chile and Peru on Monday that grants Peruvians a bigger piece of the Pacific Ocean while keeping rich coastal fishing grounds in the hands of Chilean industry. Despite high emotions over the dispute, especially in Peru, the ruling is expected to have little effect on cordial ties between the two neighbors whose economic interdependence has grown greatly in recent years. Chile's outgoing president, Sebastian Pinera, called the International Court of Justice's ruling "a lamentable loss" in a nationally televised address. But President-elect Michelle Bachelet, who takes office in March, said that "most of the fishing occurs inside the area that the court ratified as belonging to our country."

Peru gets more ocean, Chile keeps fishing grounds. (2014, January 29). Manila Bulletin, p. 8.