Bolivia has a navy. Merchant vessels sail the high seas under the Bolivian flag. The country celebrates March 23rd as the "Day of the Sea". In fact, Bolivia has all the trappings of a maritime power except an actual coastline (confining its navy to lakes and rivers). It lost its littoral to Chile in a 19th-century war and has been trying to recover a piece of it almost ever since. On May 4th Bolivia's quest entered a new phase when the International Court of Justice (icj) in The Hague began hearings on its demand for Chile to grant it "sovereign access to the sea", ie, territory that would reconnect it to the Pacific Ocean. The government commissioned 35 musicians to record a song, "Beaches of the Future", to drum up international support.
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