MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru admits talks for US air facilities in the highlands

The United States Army and the Peruvian Armed Forces Joint Command are in negotiations for the establishment of US air facilities in Peru, according to press reports from Lima.

General Edwin Donayre, Commander in Chief of the Peruvian Army admitted negotiations to a local publication "Peru 21". Apparently the US air facilities would be built in Ayacucho 575 kilometers southeast of Lima. "The Joint Command is coordinating with United States the establishment of an airdrome" said the Peruvian general, who added that this "has nothing to do with the humanitarian activities deployed by US troops currently in Ayacucho". Since early June US Army members are involved in what has been described as humanitarian activities and "they are circumscribed to those places where they have been told to go", said an official Peruvian release. According to General Donayre, 30.000 inhabitants from Ayacucho will benefit from medical attention supplied by the US troops. However according to Peruvian press reports there is a "certain suspicion" among locals about the true intentions of this display. Ayacucho was Peru's region which most suffered by the guerrilla warfare from the Maoist Shinning Path with the Peruvian Army between 1980 and 2000, which left an estimated toll of over 70.000, mostly civilians, killed.