Latinnews Daily - 17 November 2003

Defence minister Aurelio Loret de Mola has resigned from his post after the government refused to comply with his request to raise the 2004 budget for the armed forces. Loret de Mola said that his failure to persuade the government of the need to increase the defence budget left him with little choice. Specifically, he wanted US$30m to buy two used frigates from Italy and a larger chunk of the budget to fund the army's counter-insurgency operations against the guerrillas of Sendero Luminoso (SL). Congress has to approve a NS44bn (US$12.7bn) budget for 2004 by the end of November.

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