MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile per capita expenditure on defence, the highest of Latinamerica

Chart shows national shares of the volume of imports of major conventional weapons by states in the Americas, 2004–2008. Credit: SIPRI

Chile is the second largest weapons importer in the Americas and the 11th largest in the world, a recent study has shown. Chile’s defence budget nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, the study carried out by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

In terms of defence budgets, Chile ranked third among Latin American nations in 2008, spending 6 billion US dollars on defence, behind Brazil with 23.3 billion and Colombia with 9.1 billion. However, on a per capita basis, Chile by far outspends both countries, since its population is 17 million, compared to Brazil's 194 million and Colombia's 46 million.

Chile has spent its arms budget on an ambitious Armed Forces modernization program, buying 10 F-16 fighter bombers from the United States in 2004, 18 second-hand planes of the same type from the Netherlands in 2005, and 140 refurbished Leopard-2A4 tanks from Germany in 2009.

These acquisitions set off alarm bells in neighbouring Argentina, Peru and Bolivia, all of whom have problematic relationships with Chile, according to SIPRI.

“This purchase will create an imbalance in the region,” commented Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde after the announcement of the Dutch warplanes buy, adding that Chile’s arms purchases are all the more difficult to accept given the current maritime border dispute, now being litigated at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

The key to the increase in Chilean military spending is the steep rise of international copper prices in recent years. The Copper Law implemented in 1958 and later amended during the 17-year dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet stipulates that the Armed Forces are automatically granted 10 percent of all sales (not profits) made by the state-owned Codelco, the world´s biggest copper producing company.

However, after 20 years of democratic rule in Chile, the former President Michelle Bachelet made a serious attempt to do away with the law intended to circumvent civilian control of military budgets. At the beginning of February, she proposed legislation for sweeping changes in the military structure and financing, including separation of defence spending from the economic fortunes of Codelco.

Weapons imports to South America rose by 150% during the last five years compared to the beginning of the millennium, the SIPRI report states. High prices of commodities, such as soy and oil boosted revenues of other countries. Significant arms purchases by Brazil, Chile and Venezuela in recent years are giving rise to speculation about an arms race in South America.

“Transparency and confidence-building measures need to be improved to reduce tension in the region,” says SIPRI Researcher and Latin America expert Mark Bromley.

By Mira Galanova - Santiago Times