MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

With copper money Chile plans fully professional army

Chile's president Michelle Bachelet announced this week that the country's armed forces plan to expand to 5,000 professional solders by 2010, and, ultimately, depend fully on professional and voluntary troops. This new initiative will include all three branches of the military: the army, the navy and the air force.

"With this law we can modify and improve the discipline incorporated in the ranks of the professional soldiers, allowing us to double the number of the professional soldiers by 2010 and obtain a significant decrease in the young people who complete their military service," said Bachelet. Defense Minister José Goñi supported Bachelet's statements, adding, "â€Ã‚¦ professional soldiers serve five years at a time. This allows us a greater efficiency in the investment of training the individual soldiers and it also gives us highly prepared personnel to confront the technological challenges of a modern military." The increased investment in Chile's armed forces coincides with the rising copper prices. Current law provides that 10% of all sales at state-owned copper giant CODELCO be used to fund Chile's military. This means that increased CODELCO sales generate more money to spend on the military. Copper prices on the world market are currently up sharply, approaching US$4 per pound. CODELCO is one of Chile's most important companies, accounting for 7% of Chile's Gross National Product (GNP) in 2006, 57% of Chile's total exports and 32% of the country's fiscal revenue. Internationally, Chile's military must provide for 600 troops in Haiti, as a part of a United Nations peace keeping effort in the Caribbean state. Chile has, however, denied a UN request to send military forces to Darfur province in Sudan and is dragging its feet at sending soldiers to the Kosovo region in the Balkans. The Santiago Times