Defence chiefs fail to solve 'soldiers vs politicos' debate
The biennial meeting of hemispheric defence ministers concluded in Managua on 4 October without having sorted out one of the issues that had attracted the most heated debate during its closed-door sessions: who should continue to manage these encounters — the generals of the Inter-American Defence Board (IADB) or, as up to now, the politicians?
Managing the meetings of the defence ministers means having significant influence over the hemisphere's strategic agenda. The IADB, currently chaired by Brazilian General Jorge Armando de Almeida Ribeiro, had formally proposed that it should be entrusted with the task. This was reportedly endorsed by the US, Colombia and Ecuador, and opposed most vocally by Argentina and more parsimoniously by OAS secretary-general José Miguel Insulza. The IADB is an agency of the OAS.
Argentine defence minister Nilda Garré said her government's position on this matter was supported by the military (which has not been a very happy lot of late, as a result of the sweeping reorganisation of the defence establishment set in motion by President Néstor Kirchner). The option was presented as between control of policy by the generals or by the politicians, though it need not necessarily be so: there is nothing to prevent a member government of the OAS to appoint a civilian defence official as its representative on the IADB.
Insulza argued against the current trend towards 'extending the concept of security to all ambits of our political and social problems, which have other ways of being confronted by the democratic civilian authorities.' He said, 'We must be prudent in confining our conceptions of multi-dimensional security to what indeed constitutes a military or public security threat, and giving them the appropriate treatment.'
At the same time, however, he advocated including in the defence policies 'the risks derived from the increase of criminality in our cities, of the drugs trade and organised crime of the proliferation of gang activity, as well as other phenomena, like natural disasters.' Opinions regarding the use of the military in such areas vary considerably, as these are considered by many to be matters for the police. The defence minister who most argued in favour of military involvement was Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos, who cited his own country's experience as a successful example.
One practical result of the meeting was the creation of a regional de-mining body. A lateral one was the announcement by Pentagon officials that the US will soon restore military assistance to nine countries who suffered cuts as a result of their refusal to grant US personnel immunity from surrender to the International Criminal Court. Rather than attempt to amend the American Servicemembers Protection Act, which mandates such reprisals, the word is that President George Bush Jr will sign waivers allowing resumption of the assistance.