Anti-Chilean sentiment
Encyclopedia
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Chileans
Chilean people
Chilean people, or simply Chileans, are the native citizens and long-term immigrants of Chile. Chileans are mainly of Spanish and Amerindian descent, with small but significant traces of 19th and 20th century European immigrant origin...
, or Chilean culture
Culture of Chile
The culture of Chile is one of a relatively homogeneous society where historically its geographical isolation and remoteness has played a key role...
. Anti-Chilean sentiment is most prevalent among Chile's neighbors; Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
particularly in the latter two, who lost the War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
in the 19th century to Chile.
Hostile rhetoric toward Chile and Chileans have historically emanated from the political elite of neighboring countries. In the case of Argentina anti-Chilean sentment rose high around 1900 due to border disputes with Chile, and Chile's rise to a regional power after the War of the Pacific. During the Beagle conflict
Beagle conflict
The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war in 1978....
in the 1970s anti-Chilean discourses were common as Argentina prepared for a war of aggression
War of aggression
A war of aggression, sometimes also war of conquest, is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense usually for territorial gain and subjugation. The phrase is distinctly modern and diametrically opposed to the prior legal international standard of "might makes right", under...
towards Chile. Anti-Chilean speeches in Argentina are common.
In Bolivia anti-Chilean sentment is fueled by Bolivian claims for territory in the Pacific coast
Atacama border dispute
The Atacama border dispute was a dispute between Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century that ended in the transfer to Chile of all of the Bolivian Coast and the southern tip of Bolivia's ally Peru through the Treaty of Ancón with Peru and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and...
. A common political discourse attributes, at least partly, Bolivia's underdevelopment to its loss of seaports in the War of the Pacific
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific took place in western South America from 1879 through 1883. Chile fought against Bolivia and Peru. Despite cooperation among the three nations in the war against Spain, disputes soon arose over the mineral-rich Peruvian provinces of Tarapaca, Tacna, and Arica, and the...
becoming thus a landlocked country.
In Peru and Bolivia the word roto
Roto
Roto or rota is a Chilean term, considered derogatory, which refers to a person of poverty and vulgar habits of urban origin. It is also used contemptuously to refer to inhabitants of Chile, especially in Peru and Bolivia...
(literally "tattered") is used to refer disdainfully to Chileans. In Argentina the word Chilote is the degrading term for Chileans, instead of Chileno which is the correct word for Chilean. Normally a Chilote is an inhabitant of the Archipelago of Chiloé (part of Chile) but in Argentina the word has been picked up to describe any Chilean.
Outside of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and during the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
Chileans experienced a high degree of Anti-Chilean
sentiment by American miners. Chilean businesses and mine workers would usually
be harassed and at times violently attacked.
Beagle Conflict
Argentine General Luciano Benjamin Menendez was a leading advocate for war during the 1978 Beagle conflictBeagle conflict
The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war in 1978....
, and was known for his aggressive and vulgar discourse against Chileans: «Si nos dejan atacar a los chilotes, los corremos hasta la isla de Pascua, el brindis de fin de año lo hacemos en el Palacio La Moneda y después iremos a mear el champagne en el Pacífico»(Translation: «If they let us attack the Chileans, we'll chase them to Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
, we'll drink the New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
toast
Toast (honor)
A toast is a ritual in which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening," for whom someone "proposes a toast"...
in the Palacio de La Moneda
Palacio de La Moneda
Palacio de La Moneda , or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secretariat of the Government...
, and then we'll piss the champagne into the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
»).
Chilote
In Argentina the word Chilote is the degrading term for Chileans, instead of Chileno which is the correct word for Chilean. Normally a Chilote is an inhabitant of the Archipelago of Chiloé but in Argentina the word has been picked up to describe any Chilean. It is used to label his "coastal condition", which include stereotypes of laziness and poverty that are associated with Chiloé.Roto
The term was first applied to Spanish conquerors in Chile, who were badly dressed and preferred military strength over intellect. Roto later applied to "broken and impoverished" lower classes (generally peasants). The term was first applied to Chileans during the War of the ConfederationWar of the Confederation
The War of the Confederation , was a conflict between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation on one side and Chile, Peruvian dissidents and Argentina, on the other, fought mostly in the actual territory of Peru and which ended with a Confederate defeat and the dissolution of the...
; specifically, Chilean soldiers received the name from Peruvian soldiers. The term later became used by Chileans themselves in praise of the conscript soldiers of the Pacific War era, to indicate determination despite adversity. In Chile, roto also became a term of nationalist rhetoric, sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, and racial superiority at that time.
In modern usage, roto is an extremely offensive term used to disparage the ill-mannered or those who the speaker wishes to associate with the ill-mannered.