The Humboldt, the Chinese cable that broke the government transition between Boric and Kast in Chile and makes Trump uncomfortable

The Humboldt cable project that will connect South America with Asia-Pacificmore specifically the Chilean region of Valparaíso with Hong Kong, diplomatic tension increases with USA.

The issue of the fiber optic cable, of Chinese origin and with a length of 14,800 kilometers, is not accepted by the guest of the Oval Office, Donald Trumpaccording to the publication BBC.

“We don’t trust”

“Unfortunately, the president-elect has come to this meeting demanding that I retract the statements that I had informed him about this situation – the Chinese fiber optic cable and the American position – before, and since that is false and I am not going to do itdecided that the following bilateral meetings would not happen,” said Boric, the outgoing Chilean president.

Kast, for his part, He abruptly withdrew from the meeting. This is an event that occurs for the first time in the South American country since the return of democracy.

As reported by the BBC, It is not a State in which there are usually shocks at the time of its transition. For his part, Kast noted that “we don’t trust the information that they are giving us” regarding the cable.

US sanctions

Everything comes from behind. The United States decided to revoke the visas of three members of the Boric Governmenton February 20.

At first, the reasons why the US president sanctioned the Chilean Minister of Transportation were unknown. Juan Carlos Muñozto the undersecretary of the same department, Claudio Arayaand his chief of staff, Guillermo Petersen.

Washington accused them, in a statement, of “undermining regional security” and Boric He called the decision “arbitrary, unilateral and surprising.”

Later, it became known that the retaliation of the Trump Administration responded to the progress of the Chinese fiber optic cable project.

The issue became a controversy for the Boric Executive for the “contradictory information” they provided to their authorities.

Cable “in process”

First, the fiber optic cable was said to be under evaluation. This is what the chancellor conveyed to him Alberto Van Klaveren to the US ambassador in Chile, Brandon Judd.

However, the local press revealed that the sanctioned Transport Minister, Muñozsigned a decree on January 27 approving the concession to build the cable.

Some media reported that the concession given to China Mobile Internationalthe largest telecommunications operator in the world by number of subscribers, had a validity of 30 years. It established that the start of works would take place one month after its ratification.

The decree was annulled 48 hours later due to “involuntary errors.”

In the midst of the dispute USA y China for its hegemony in Latin America, Washington had warned the Chilean administration about the risks of advancing the initiative.

End of the transfer process

In the middle of all the controversy, the still president Boric wanted to calm the waters and in an interview given to local television he assured that he had informed Closet.

“There is nothing hidden here,” said Boric, who mentioned a conversation with the president-elect Closet Before the controversy broke out, the threats of USA and sanctions for collaborators.

Boric reiterates that he told Closet that “he wanted to talk specifically about the submarine cable.”

Some statements that have not been viewed favorably by the president-elect for whom he only stated the topic and did not explain what it was about.

“There was a kind of controversy between what is reporting and what I would say is stating,” he stated. Closet In a press conference after the statements of Boric.

And, the tension has escalated to such a point that Kast has decided to “end the transfer process” that they had started because they do not trust “the information they are providing,” he said. Closet.

A strong tension that, for the Minister of the Interior, Alvaro Elizaldethat the transfer of command has been broken is “a bad sign regarding the dialogue that requires Chile“, but it is also a bad sign “for democracy.”

Arrangement for transfer

Boric has stressed that his mandate “remains fully available, for the good of Chile, to have all the meetings that are necessary.” However, Closet continues to maintain its position and makes ugly Boric that “every action has a reaction.”

What happens is that for Closet “There is a lack of transparency”, something that he assures is more serious than “a lack of information.”
In the midst of the exchange of accusations and tension, Boric He advocates because “a president of the Republic, whoever he is, has to always be thinking about Chile; and Chile is not up to these childish fights.”

Thus, the Minister Secretary General of the Government of Chile under the Boric government, Camila Vallejohas indicated that the administration hopes that the change of command ceremony on March 11 will be “respectful and without tension.”