Distrust Hinders Disarmament in Latin America

• by Milagros Salazar (lima)
• Tuesday, June 08, 2010
• Inter Press Service

'We find ourselves in a very tense climate, where there is little trust between neighbouring countries,' retired Peruvian general Roberto Chiabra told IPS. 'Some interests, and the personality of a few presidents, are prevailing.'

At the opening of the OAS meeting Sunday night, Peruvian President Alan García said 'peace that is based on weapons equilibrium is not real, because it is a forced peace, a kind of latent violence.'

Chiabra, a former defence minister in the government of Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), said the initiative put forth by his country is idealistic in a region that is convulsed by 'pending issues.'

'Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia are in a climate of tension since 2008 because of problems involving the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia),' he said.

'Nor have Chile and Peru worked out their maritime border dispute, and although they have turned to an international body (the International Court of Justice in The Hague), Santiago continues to acquire arms,' said Chiabra, author of the book 'National Security in the 21st Century'.

Although the foreign ministers, vice ministers and ambassadors representing the OAS member countries at the meeting in Lima reaffirmed their governments' commitment to peace, analysts believe it is increasingly unlikely that they will assume concrete commitments in the final declaration to be signed Tuesday.

The draft declaration on peace, security and cooperation in the Americas, approved Jun. 1 by the OAS Permanent Council, in fact reveals the strong dose of rhetoric seen in the current OAS session, experts say.

In the 12-point declaration, the countries express their commitment to cooperation in order to fight extreme poverty, inequality and exclusion. But at the same time, they make room for exceptions.

Point 5, for example, states the importance of promoting a climate favourable to arms control, limits on conventional weapons and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, in order to dedicate more resources to economic and social development.

But it goes on to state that this is subordinate to 'international commitments' and 'legitimate defence and security needs.'

According to the Balance Militar de América del Sur 2008, a report on the military in South America by the Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayoría, a Buenos Aires think tank, weapons spending in the region climbed from 39.1 billion dollars in 2007 to 51.1 billion dollars in 2008.

In a late 2009 report, the Stockholm-based International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that arms imports in South America had surged 150 percent from 2000-2004 to 2005-2009, compared to a global increase of 22 percent.

'It is unfortunate that the region does not have the political capacity to have a common agenda,' Chiabra said.

'What is notable within that sovereignty is the perception of threat among the countries, and that offensive, more than defensive, weapons are being purchased,' he said.

In the last five years, Brazil spent 26 billion dollars on arms purchases, Colombia 10 billion dollars, Mexico 5.5 billion, Chile 5 billion and Venezuela 3.3 billion, according to the SIPRI report.

In the case of Colombia, the rise in defence spending is associated with that country's nearly five-decade civil war. And in Mexico, it is linked to the fight against drug trafficking.

'A sense of threat has taken root in people's minds rather than in the territories,' Alberto Bolívar, an expert on international security issues, told IPS. 'The continent has not matured yet on this issue, which is why Peru's proposal will be more symbolic than anything else.'

Bolívar pointed out that some countries have weaponry that has not been upgraded since the 1980s.

But Chiabra said an arms race should not be 'disguised' as 'modernisation' of weapons systems.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said at the OAS meeting that countries should not fall into 'unilateral visions of an arms race.'

His counterpart in Colombia, Jaime Bermúdez, said the deeper question is 'weapons versus social policy' and invited the OAS member countries to engage in a 'serious' debate on the issue of arms trafficking.

Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said he was open to the idea of engaging with Peru in a process of bringing the two countries' defence spending into line, similar to an agreement that his country has with Argentina.

He also called for compliance with the Inter-American Convention on Transparency in Conventional Weapons Acquisitions.

Point 8 of the final declaration invites the states to sign and ratify this international treaty, which entered into force in 2002.

In a press conference Saturday, OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza called for greater transparency in weapons purchases and pointed out that on average, only 41 percent of countries report such purchases.

The president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Diego García Sayán, said reducing military spending is complicated by the fact that some South American countries are weapons manufacturers, like Brazil and, to a lesser extent, Chile.

The United States also plays a key role as the biggest supplier of weapons. In her address to the OAS meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that 'thanks to the reduction of interstate tensions in the Americas, we can look for ways to reduce excessive weapons expenditures'.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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