MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner to trim powers of Armed Forces chiefs

The administration of Argentine President Nestor Kirchner will unveil plans to reduce “powers” of the Armed Forces chiefs in the framework of a general restructuring plan for the military, revealed Sunday Buenos Aires daily La Nacion.

The plan drafted by the Defence Ministry will be announced Monday, on Argentina's Army Day.

According to La Nacion the chiefs of the different services "will no longer make decisions involving promotions, material and equipment purchasing or authorizing training exercises". Powers now held by the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force will be vested on the Joint General Staff.

Apparently the new system is similar to that in the United States and should be fully implemented by the end of the year.

In recent statements Argentina's Defence Minister Nilda Garre said that the government was looking to "recover the control over Defence, which had been delegated on to the top officers of the three services".

The announcement comes a couple of days after the Army punished six officers with arrest for taking part in a public ceremony honouring servicemen and civilians killed by guerrillas in the seventies and eighties.

During the ceremony at the Plaza San Martin in downtown Buenos Aires, attended by about 3.000 people, speaker after speaker criticized President Kirchner administration's human rights policy and insulted army chief General Roberto Bendini.