At that time, on his government's behalf, the Bolivian special plenipotentiary in Peru, foreign minister Serapio Reyes Ortiz announced Bolivia's declaration of war on Chile, dated March 1, by circular note to the diplomatic Corps accredited to Peru . ( Reyes Ortiz had been commissioned to obtain the Peruvian government's recognition of " casus foederis " according to article 3 of the 1873 Treaty of Alliance . ) The unusual step of making public a declaration of war in this fashion can be explained by the fact that only few countries were represented in La Paz at the time, and communications from there took significantly longer than from Lima.
