Tacna and arica: visualisations, plebiscite and new border in valparaíso's la unión, 1922 [tacna y arica: visualizaciones, plebiscito y nueva frontera en la unión de valparaíso, 1922*]

This investigation aims to look at certain issues related to Chile's national discourse at the beginning of the twentieth century, focusing our attention on a wide-ranging report about Arica and Tacna published in installments in the newspaper La Unión in December 1922. A moment of diplomatic tension between Peru and Chile whose backdrop was the possible definition of the new northern border⇔s boundaries through a plebiscite. This kind of report - whose effectiveness was based on bringing photographic images and text- was used as a journalistic position that corresponded with the alliance between the State and the press over the policies of “Chilenisation” to create and encourage nationalist sentiment after the War of the Pacific. In this sense, the report⇔s strategic intention in La Unión consisted in replicating a preconceived and stereotypical general idea that held that it was convenient for the occupied territories still in dispute to continue under Chilean rule since the country was better suited to bringing progress and modernization. These interests had become essential for Valparaíso⇔s elite, the audience at which the newspaper was aiming in particular.