Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez considered Friday in Santiago de Chile as "fair, legitimate" Bolivia's request from Chile to get access to the Pacific Ocean.

"You know my opinion in this regard, and all of us are familiar with history here. Bolivia used to have a sea, when Simón Bolívar came; when Antonio José de Sucre came, and they met with this people and created that republic. You may see the maps. Bolivia used to have a sea of her own," said Chávez.

The Venezuelan president made his remarks on arriving in Chile to take part in the 17th Ibero-American Summit. Then, far from protocol and in an amiable mood, he chatted for more than half an hour with journalists, joked, preached and even chanted a Mexican folk song.

"I have always said that it (Bolivia's petition) is fair and represents a State position," Chávez recalled. However, he noted that it was a bilateral affair.