The Bolivian President Evo Morales asked for Pope Francis to help with nine Bolivians who have been imprisoned in Chile.
Morales has asked for a papal envoy to help calm “rising tensions and a miscarriage of justice”.
“I beg you to intervene in the best possible way to quickly resolve this case,” he wrote to Francis last week.
“Justice must conclude with the liberation of nine Bolivian functionaries.”
Morales told Francis those arrested were being “deprived of their human rights in Iquique, Chile.”
The prisoners include seven customs workers and two soldiers. They were arrested in March and accused of robbery, carrying weapons and importing contraband.
This is not the first time Morales has sought Francis’s help.
When he hosted Francis during his 2015 visit, he said in his welcoming address “You have arrived in a country mutilated by its lack of access to the sea,”.
He then gave him a gift, the “Book of the Sea.”
Pope Francis answered, saying “Dialogue is indispensable,” and “building bridges instead of building walls.”
Bolivia and Chile share a border that is about 650 kilometres long. They don’t have diplomatic relations and don’t get on well.
Bolivia has not had access to sea routes since 1879, which is part of the problem it has with Chile.
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