Bolivia, Chile move to restore ties severed 50 years ago

The foreign ministers of Chile and Bolivia met Thursday in a step toward restoring relations severed 50 years ago, the latter's foreign minister said.

These two countries severed ties in 1975 after failing to reach agreement on a long-standing beef for landlocked Bolivia: access to the Pacific Ocean. Bolivia used to have a coast but lost it in a war with Chile in the late 19th century. Every year Bolivia celebrates a holiday called Dia del Mar, or Day of the Sea, to remember the loss of its 250-mile stretch of coastline to Chile in the conflict known as the War of the Pacific.

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