MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Southern Cone Defence Ministers Meeting Ends.

At the end of day long meeting the Mercosur Defence Ministers ratified that as far as the regions security is concerned and the perception of threats, opinions are different from that of Washington and are “diametrically opposite.”

The ministers met in downtown Buenos Aires to discuss matters for the VI American Defence Ministers Conference in Quito in November.

Argentine Defence Minister Jose Pampuro said "this does not mean that there will be a confrontation, but that there are positions of some matters of which we will agree and in others differ," with the ideas the United States has.

"The vision of the north, United States and Canada regarding the Armed Forces is more police orientated, of internal controls linked to security, terrorism and drug trafficking. Our vision is diametrically opposite. We have a more traditional idea of the Armed Forces, of the defence of the territory. The countries that are here wish to maintain the Armed Forces a long way away from the problems of internal safety," Pampuro said.

Also present at the meeting were Defence Ministers José Viegas (Brasil); Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Yamandú Fau (Uruguay), Roberto González Segovia (Paraguay), Gonzalo Arredondo Millán (Bolivia) and deputy defence Minister Jaime Andrade (Ecuador).

Chilean Minister Bachelet said that during the meeting "we asked ourselves if really there is one or several security agendas" in the United States and added "there are problems in common between the countries and the answers could be diverse."

Brazilian Minister Viegas on his part said "no country can say it's free from terrorist threats and said "it is not a fight of the Armed Forces, but of prevention of the intelligence and police forces."