Peruvian MP Luis Gonzales Posada blows the whistle
As Chile is about to strike a deal to purchase another batch of American-made F-16 fighter-bombers, Peruvian former Foreign Minister Luis Gonzales Posada says it is time to denounce the Chilean arms build-up in international fora.
As is widely known, the Chilean government announced the day before yesterday the purchase in Holland of 18 refurbished F-16 fighter-bombers, which are to be based in Antofagasta (Bolivian province under Chilean military occupation)1.
A similar view was expressed by foreign relations expert Dr Ernesto Velit, who thinks now is the right time to bring Peru’s case to the Organisation of American States (OAS) or to the United Nations.
Dr Velit acknowledged that Chile is free to buy military equipment, but he added that Peru is under obligation to point out that those planes break the region’s military balance2–Chile’s expenditture in arms is ten times as big as that of Peru, and four times as big as that of Brazil. For this reason international organisms should call upon Chile to put a limit to its expenses in purchasing weapons, all the more so in time of economic crisis. He added that the Chilean buying amounts to provocation because senior Chilean military officers have stated recently that those aircraft will be used to defend their borders and that “the only country Chile has a problem with is Peru”, they said
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| ……….Luis Gonzales Posada |
El Mercurio, a leading Chilean newspaper, quotes Francisco Vidal, Chile’s Defence Minister, as saying that the Chilean Air Force is just “upgrading” its equipment and that the purchase of the aircraft has nothing to do with the case Peru has brought against Chile before the International Court of Justice.
Curiously enough, every time Chile buys military hardware in an uncontrolled manner, its leaders say they are “just upgrading” their armed forces. An outrageous statement, as we know the dark historical record of that murderous country, which robbed Bolivia of her entire coastal province of Antofagasta
The aforementioned aircraft are to be bought from the the Royal Netherlands Air Force at $ 270 million dollars. High ranking Dutch officials say details of the purchase are yet to be worked out.
With these new planes Chile will enlarge its F-16 fleet to 44, most of them based in northern Chile, that is, close enough to strike southern Peru at short notice. Robbing more Peruvian land is what Chilean rats are after.
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1 Read Theft-oriented Chile declares war on Peru on April the 5th, 1879
2 Actually, we cannot say that Chile is breaking the military balance–it worsens the situation of an already broken balance of military power.
