Secret treaty of alliance between Peru and Bolivia of 1873
Borders of Peru, Bolivia, and Chile in the Atacama prior to the treaty's signing in 1873
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| Type | Defense pact |
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| Context | Atacama border dispute |
| Signed | February 6, 1873 |
| Location | Lima, Peru |
| Negotiators | Jose de la Riva-Aguero (Peru) Juan de la Cruz (Bolivia) |
| Signatories | Jose de la Riva-Aguero (Peru) Juan de la Cruz (Bolivia) |
| Parties | Peru, Bolivia |
| Language | Spanish |
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The Treaty of Defensive Alliance was a secret defense pact between the South American countries of Bolivia and Peru signed in the Peruvian capital of Lima on February 6, 1873. The document was composed of eleven central articles, outlining its necessity and stipulations, and one additional article that ordered to keep the treaty secret until it was deemed necessary by both contracting parties. The signatory states were represented by the Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, José de la Riva-Agüero y Looz Corswaren, and the Bolivian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Peru, Juan de la Cruz Benavente.
Ongoing border disputes between Bolivia and Chile worsened the region's tense political environment, made all the more precarious by a global economic depression, and served as the setting for the treaty's negotiation and signing. The system of mutual defense established between Bolivia and Peru sought to protect their national security and the regional balance of power by containing Chile's expansionism, which was fueled by its economic ambitions over the mineral resources of the Atacama Desert. The pact's stated intentions were to guarantee the integrity, independence, and sovereignty of the contracting parties.
To further secure the alliance from Chile, Peru sought, in vain, the adhesion of Argentina into the defense pact. Due to its own border disputes with Chile, Argentina's attachment to the alliance seemed inevitable. However, territorial disagreements between Bolivia and Argentina, as well as the possible interference of Brazil in favor of Chile, obstructed negotiations. Argentina's possible inclusion into the Peru-Bolivia pact was, nonetheless, enough of a perceived threat that, in 1881, Chile ensured it would not fight a two-front war by settling its borders with Argentina, in the process giving up substantial territorial aspirations in Patagonia.
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