A meeting took place yesterday between the foreign and defense ministers of Peru and Chile, in order to discuss the topic of reducing arms spending in South America.
The meeting came on the heels of Chile’s decision to purchase over $700 million worth of US warplanes, including 10 F-16 fighters and two KC-135 tanker planes that are used for midair fueling.
This is the latest headache for new Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, who was sworn into office on July 28th, amongst talk of fighting the poverty and corruption that has recently plagued the country.
This corruption was evident in the term of Toledo’s predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, who was forced from office after a string of scandals, most notably the illegal death squad killings that he authorized in the early 1990’s.
“This meeting is highly symbolic and it is the start of a process, based on the common intention of our governments,” Peru’s Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan told CNN reporters as he entered the meeting.
Although neighboring countries seem optimistic that the meeting will go a long way toward stopping an arms race that neither nation can afford, Chile has already started bolstering its armed forces, spending $2 billion on warships and other military equipment even before its recent airplane purchase.
This action has made Peru very wary, as the two countries have generally mistrusted each other since an 1879 war in which Chile took over fertile land in the southern region of Peru.
“I am very positive about this meeting. I hope that we will at least establish a binding mechanism for the future,” Mario Fernandez, Chile’s Defense Minister, said.
In his inaugural address, Toledo, the first elected Peruvian president with an indigenous background, shared his plans for helping his poverty-stricken nation, in which more than half of the country’s habitants (over 13 million people) live below the poverty line.
The newly elected president talked about increasing housing for the poor, investing in small businesses with the hope of stimulating the economy, and mentioned plans for universal health care and a new system of education for the poor as well.
Toledo also plans to restructure the armed forces and the police force in order to slow down corruption, and looked for ways to increase tourism. Peru sports a large section of tropical rainforest that could potentially attract tourists much the same way the Costa Rica uses its rainforest to attract tourists in Central America.
In order to accomplish all of these things, Toledo had hoped for an immediate freeze on weapon buying so that money formerly spent on the military could now be used for domestic programs.
Information from cnn.com and nytimes.com was used in this article.
