Grub Street Feb 17, 2009:

snatch or seize methinks. I think I'd have to say that you should see it as either snatch or seize. They are the closest to the literal meaning of "arrancar" which is to "tear out" or "tear off".

hfp (asker) Feb 16, 2009:

Delicate indeed The headline was published yesterday, and according to El Mercurio (the Chilean paper publishing this information), Fidel Castro was on the front page of the Peruvian paper, putting Chile in a negative light.

The headline is being translated for my personal benefit of knowing how to say this in English :-) and any English speaking person may read this. I imagine some readers know something about Andino politics, while others know very little, if anything. :-)

Thanks for your help, mediamatrix.

mediamatrix (X) Feb 15, 2009:

Delicate stuff, this... The best way to translate this will depend significantly on who is going to read the translation, and why.
An important part of the context provided by hfp is that this is a headline from the **Peruvian** press. Assuming that it is 'current', or at least 'recent', then an important element of the context may be Peru's claim of sovereignty over part of the Pacific, now being examined in The Hague. In that context, little wonder that the headline uses 'arrancar' when, if the history books are anything to go by, the Bolivia's loss of access to the sea was a 'mere' by-product of a war started by Bolivia and Peru (under the terms of a secret agreement between those two nations) following a dispute over the exploitation of natural resources in (what is now) northern Chile. Also, if the Peruvian press headline is (very) recent, it may have been worded that way, suggesting Chilean agression for the specific purpose of blocking Bolivia's access to the sea, with a view to 'raising the tone' on the back of recent comments on this very subject by a well-known former head of state of Cuba.

So, before offering any kind of answer to the question I would want to know: Why is this headline being translated? Who is going to read the translation? What (if anything) do those readers klnow about Andino politics?

Recommended reading (not available on line, afaik): Historia de la Fronteras de Chile - Los tratados de límites con Bolivia; Guillermo Lagos Carmona, Ed. Andrés Bello, ed 2, noviembre 1981