The Bolivian government wants to reclaim access to the sea from Chile, the Hague might be the only institution that could settle the centuries long dispute.

On April 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales delivered case documents about sea access claims against Chile to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (U.N.). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).

This week things have gone a different way since four of the former presidents of Chile met with the current president, Michelle Bachelet.

According to El Dínamo, a Chilean newspaper, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle and Sebastián Piñera, all former Chilean presidents, came together to discuss with Bachelet Bolivia's demand. It has been reported that the former presidents advised Bachelet to ignore the claims, and do not recognize the Hague as an institutional international setting to deal with this territorial dispute that has already been settled by the Bolivian and Chilean governments in 1904.

Morales warned that if Chile contests the Bolivian claim filed in 2013 before the International Court of the Hague, they [Chile] will be outside international law, La Razon, a Bolivian newspaper reported.

Part of the case is that Bolivia seeks to force Chile to give back the Pacific Ocean passage lost in an 1880s war won by Chile, Yahoo! News reported. Most of Bolivia's trade passes through Chilean ports; this is the result of an agreement on the transit of goods, although the two countries broke off diplomatic relations on this issue in 1978.

Chilean President Bachelet stated last month that this court case had closed the door on any hopes of a bilateral deal, and that they are confident Chile has a strong legal case on their side, Yahoo! News reported.

"We are very clear that we respect international treaties ... but we are going to first analyze the Bolivian case in order to decide how we proceed," Bachelet said in a radio broadcast. The Chilean government is expected to review arguments and evidence presented by Bolivia for its claim to a land corridor connecting the landlocked country to the sea.

"This sea would be for the whole homeland. For us, access to the sea is an inalienable right and Bolivia will never be at peace until this matter is resolved," Morales said, The Santiago Times reported.

Chile has 90 days to respond, or they can appeal and counter arguments until Feb. 15, 2015. There is a strong feeling at the political and social level in Chile, from the right-wing to the left-wing, to not recognize The Hague with the right to deal with this territorial dispute.