Peru buys bombers in arms race with Chile

Press, 7 September 1976, Page 20

Peru buys bombers in arms race with Chile

By

JAMES NEILSON

in Buenos Aires

The bitter hostility dividing Peru and Chile, which has brought the two Pacific coast nations to the brink of a shooting war several times in recent years, has burst to the surface with reports that a new stage in the highly expensive arms race between them is under way. The Peruvian Government, which in July found itself in a severe economic crisis, nevertheless admits that it is shopping around for a considerable number of sophisticated war planes. The admission, by the military regime’s Foreign Minister, Jose de la Puente, came after a flurry of reports in the Latin American and United States press that Peru had signed a deal with the Soviet Union for the purchase of 36 Sukhoi-22 fighter-bombers. The cost of this was said to be $250 million, just $lO million more than the amount the Peruvian Economic Ministry was trying to borrow from United States, European, and Japanese banks to help fill the huge balance of payments deficit. But according to General de la Puente, Peru was merely examining what the arms manufacturers of France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union had to offer before the Government made up its mind. A Peruvian Air Force communique, issued the day after de la Puente spoke, made it clear that Peru was definitely in the market for something substantial “to renovate obsolete war material.” Peru’s decision to “renovate” its air force is in response to a similar but earlier decision by Chile, which in July began taking delivery of 18 F-5E fighterbombers bought, as a reported cost of $64 million, from the United States.

The quarrel between Peru and Chile is basically territorial, although it was given some extra spice between September, 1973, and the beginning of this year by the ideological contrast between the countries’ military regimes. Peru claimed to stand for a kind of army-led socialism, and Chile is outspokenly opposed to socialism in any shape or form. Earlier this year, however, the Peruvian government abandoned many of its Leftwing tenets. Rivalry between Peru and Chile is as old as the Spanish occupation. It reached a bloody climax in the 18791833 War of the Pacific, when the Chilean armies thoroughly defeated Peru, retaining possession of part of southern Peru as well as Bolivia’s one coastal province. In a treaty in 1929 Peru recovered the province of Tacna, but Chile kept Arica and Tarapaca. Ever since then, Peruvian military men and politicians have clamoured for the return of the “lost provinces.” Neighbouring countries are watching the arms race with concern. Ecuador, which was recently reported as being in the market for some British Jaguar war planes, also has some territorial differences with Peru and its military leaders are not disposed to let their armaments lag too far behind. Bolivian leaders have also

expressed their grave concern. Bolivia has a special interest in calming down Peru and Chile, because the three countries are engaged in trilateral negotiations over a Bolivian request for a corridor linking the landlocked country to the Pacific Ocean. Chile has offered a corridor running through the former Peruvian territoryover which the Peruvians still retain some residual rights. Although Latin America is largely dominated by its armed forces, few of the countries spend much of their meagre incomes on armaments. The entire region spends about $5OOO million a year on the total military establishment, and its 1,500,000 men do not constitute a large total by contemporary standards. While the Soviet Union spends 10.6 per cent of its gross national product on “defence,” and the United States 6 per cent, Peru spends a mere 2.4 per cent and Chile slightly more. Nevertheless, the perennial

arms race between Peru and Chile does induce these two crisis-ridden, money-short countries to spend far more on weapons than would otherwise be the case. — O.F.N.S. Copyright.