Peru blasts military expenditure and arms purchases in Latinamerica

Thursday, September 24th 2009 - 10:59 UTC

Full article 6 comments

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. Read full article

Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules

Bubba
Finally a voice of reason...
Sep 24th, 2009 - 11:21 am - Link - Report abuse 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 - Link - Report abuse 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 - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
Bubba
I lived in Peru for a year. You have nothing to worry about, they bought soviet crap and did not do the mantainence.. all junk..
Sep 25th, 2009 - 06:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
hongosan
those migs were bought to replace the losses we suffered in the cenepa(war with ecuador)i think alan means countries that cant afford or dont need those kind of weapons should be using the money on the people,education,or to improve the economy,chile has the right to buy whatever they want ,they have a strong economy and can afford to mantain such a force.venezuela,ecuador,and bolivia do not have the money to give its people a good education and yet they waste it on trash( soviet equipment ffs),now with peru and colombia its a different situationn they are both at war with narcoterrorists ,peru needs weapons to fight in the mountains and jungle ,why they are buying tanks and submarines, that i cant answer.
Sep 28th, 2009 - 02:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
-+
nitrojuan
CHile bought F16 to mapuches use, Arg with olds planes and profesionaly pilots was able to destroy a lot of british ships in the south atlantic war. It is a matter of minds not for who have the last equipment.
Oct 04th, 2009 - 12:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0
-+

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!