Peru blasts military expenditure and arms purchases in Latinamerica

Thursday, September 24th 2009 - 10:59 UTC

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How many millions of children could be fed and educated with those funds asked President Alan García

Peruvian president Alan García demanded Wednesday that the Organization of American States, OAS, help contain the arms purchasing spree in Latinamerica, an issue that has created irritation and disputes among several countries of the region.

If we don’t put an end to this “absurd armamentism” in the continent, organizations such as OAS, Mercosur, Unasur “have no reason to exist”.

”I take the opportunity that the OAS representative is present among us to demand that the organization makes a permanent monitoring , and calls on governments to end this absurd situation, otherwise OAS, Unasur (Union of South American Nations), CAN (Community of Andean Nations) and Mercosur have no reason to exist”, said García during an event in Lima, capital of Peru.

In the last five years, according to Peruvian defence figures, only in South America 153 billion US dollars were spent in maintaining the region’s Armed Forces and another 23 billion USD in acquiring new military hardware.

“And what did we receive in exchange? Tens of millions of undernourished children; tens of millions of children with no schools; What are we talking about Mr. OAS Secretary General if we don’t decide to call on all countries of the region to put an end to this madness?, added Garcia at a conference on infancy.

The issue has become controversial and irritating in South America following the Colombia/US plan to deploy US forces in seven Colombian military bases.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez a harsh critic of Washington policies has argued that the Bogotá agreement with the US, “is sowing the seeds of war” in the region.

Furthermore Colombia has countered saying it is willing to accept transparency in military affairs but demands a similar opening from other countries which have invested heavily in military hardware, among which Venezuela; its close ally Ecuador; Chile; Bolivia and Brazil, among others.

Venezuela is discussing with Moscow the purchase of 2.2 billion USD in military hardware, while Ecuador and Chile have spent generously in their air forces.

Recent attempts by Unasur summits to reach a consensus on military issues and transparency ended with meagre results and Colombia does not discard the option of abandoning Unasur and other regional security organizations.

Categories: Economy, Politics, Latin America.

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Bubba
Finally a voice of reason...
Sep 24th, 2009 - 11:21 am 0
James
AS IF!!! This guy makes me so mad as a Chilean. Where was his rhetoric when Peru was arming itself with 6 new subs, 8 new frigates, 20 MiG-29s and tons of weapons for the the Peruvian army? What did anyone do when in the late 70's Peru armed itself with hundreds of tanks and artillery to attack our nation! Now Chileans have a talented and well equipped military force that outshines Peru and is often hailed by the U.S. and NATO nations; a military that has outpaced Peru's in terms of quality. However we are still numerically inferior. It's obvious he's just splitting hairs and being passive aggressive. Just because weapons are bought by Chile doesn't mean there is no money for social programs, the question is whether they will work and if there are better ways than just throwing taxpayers cash blindly into social welfare. He is splitting hairs and using political ploys to accomplish his goals, can't anyone see that?
Sep 25th, 2009 - 06:45 am 0
James
And btw while I'm at it I should add this: It disparages me to see the useless resentment by many Chileans of the modern Chilean armed forces; who are led and structured differently than under the regime. Instead, Chileans should realize the accomplishments the military has made, maintaining a modern, well trained and technologically advanced forced that is so well regarded is no mean feat. Indeed, accomplishing that in such a short amount of time required a tremendous effort from the people entering the military after the Pinochet regime, and their rapid mastery in many technological fields is very impressive. They were able to modernize to a standard of training and logistical capability more often seen in NATO countries rather than Latin America ones in one generation; as well as maintaining a very high standard of training in advanced platforms like the F16 plane and Scorpene submarine. All of this to replace the distasteful legacy of the regime with a concrete series of accomplishments. Chileans should be proud of these accomplishments as they have bled over to other areas of national development as well, like aerospace technology, air travel safety, and education. To mention nothing of the real world advantages a strong defense provides in Latin America. I'm sure many Chileans would be proud to see how our personnel training abroad represent our country and are treated with great prestige in the United States; indeed often say they feel our expert F16 pilots and ground maintenance personnel are every bit a match for their own. (They would know they trained them!) I hope Chileans don't let this Garcia fellow divide them into a self damaging internecine dispute, although self damaging political behavior seems inherent to Chile sometimes. (BTW no I'm not rightwing/pro Pinochet or anything of the like.)
Sep 25th, 2009 - 07:07 am 0

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