FOREIGN MINISTER CLAIMS CHARGES THAT CHILE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 002018 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV PE SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER CLAIMS CHARGES THAT CHILE SUPPLIED ARMS TO ECUADOR DURING 1995 BORDER WAR BEHIND PERU'S DECISION NOT TO... id: 31889 date: 5/3/2005 11:45 refid: 05LIMA2018 origin: Embassy Lima classification: CONFIDENTIAL destination: 05LIMA1987 header: This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available. -------------- header ends -------------- C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 002018 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV PE SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER CLAIMS CHARGES THAT CHILE SUPPLIED ARMS TO ECUADOR DURING 1995 BORDER WAR BEHIND PERU'S DECISION NOT TO JOIN CONSENSUS ON OAS SECGEN ELECTION REF: A. LIMA 1987 ¶B. LIMA 1480 Classified By: D/Polcouns Art Muirhead for Reason 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez told the Ambassador that the resusitation of charges that Chile supplied Ecuador with arms during the latter's 1995 border conflict with Peru would make it difficult for Peru to join consensus on the election of Chilean Jose Miguel Insulza as OAS SecGen (Peru joined Bolivia in demanding a vote, and then reportedly cast a blank ballot). The allegations of Chilean malfeasance were given new life by congressional Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Gustavo Pacheco, who publicly released secret Foreign Ministry communications from that time, while the ongoing controversy over LAN Peru/LAN Chile showing an in-flight video with negative coverage of Peru added fuel to the fire. Rodriguez jumped into the fray after Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker sought to minimize the LAN video incident, and Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero, on 4/29, announced Peru was sending a diplomatic note to Chile to protest the 1995 arms deliveries, although the note was not delivered until the next day. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Chile's provision of armaments to Ecuador during the 1995 border conflict with Peru has been front-page news in Lima since former Ecuadoran military commander Gen. Victor Bayas raised this issue on 3/21 (Ref B). Congressional Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Gustavo Pacheco breathed new life into the allegations in early April, when he released copies of cables, written in February 1995 by Peru's then-Ambassador to Chile Alfonso Rivero, reporting on the delivery of arms to Ecuador, and held Committee hearings at which Rivero and other officials testified that Chile's then-President Eduardo Frei and then-Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Mariano Fernandez had apologized for the arms shipment, explaining that it had been arranged before the war broke out. In his subsequent comments to the media, Pacheco suggested that additional arms shipments existed, and, noting that Insulza was Foreign Minister at the time the arms were sent, called on Peru to oppose his election as OAS Secretary General. ¶3. (U) The Foreign Ministry's initial tactic was to downplay Pacheco's allegations, while expressing surprise that he would release secret documents to the public. The public clamor over the video broadcast on LAN Peru/LAN Chile flights, however, made continued forebearance untenable, particularly after Chilean Foreign Minister Walker weighed in dismissing the matter as a "tempest in a teapot," and Rodriguez publicly criticized Walker's comments as interference in Peru's internal politics (Ref A). ¶4. (U) On 4/29, Prime Minister Carlos Ferrero announced that Peru would be sending a diplomatic note to Chile registering its "protest and surprise" over the incident. Concurrently, a joint communique issued by the Foreign and Defense Ministries provided a summary of all the information that has been released publicly about the 1995 arms shipments, and ended by expressing regret that Chile, as one of the Guarantors of the 1942 Rio Protocol, had not maintained a stance of absolute neutrality during the 1995 Cenepa conflict. The communique noted that the Chilean Defense Ministry had informed its Peruvian counterpart that only one arms shipment had been made to Ecuador pursuant to a sale of munitions on 9/12/94, and that this shipment was not/not sent while the border war was underway. The GOP, the communique continued, found these explanations "insufficient," given that its sources at the time reported that there were at least two, and as many as five planeloads of munitions were supplied by Chile to Ecuador during the conflict. The full text of the communique can be viewed at www.rree.gob.pe under "Ultimas Noticias." ¶5. (C) Chilean Political Officer Fernando Velasco told D/Polcoun on 5/1 that Peruvian Foreign Ministry Political Undersecretary Oscar Maurtua had contacted Chilean Ambassador Juan Pablo Lira late on 4/29 to advise on the content of the communique. Since the document referred to a note of protest and surprise, Lira insisted on receiving the note forthwith so that his government could formulate a response, but was not provided with a copy until late the next evening. ¶6. (C) Foreign Minister Rodriguez told the Ambassador on 4/29, that Peru was prepared to try to find a way not to block consensus on Insulza's election as OAS SecGen. He subsequently contacted the Ambassador that he had made this recommendation before the latest round of controversy over Chile, and that it now could be problematical for Peru to support Insulza. (NOTE: Peru joined Bolivia in demanding a vote at the OAS, and the local media is reporting that Peru voted in blank. END NOTE.) ¶7. (C) COMMENT: There do not/not appear to be any new allegations in the Peruvian communique regarding the Chilean arms shipments to Ecuador in 1995. The GOP's decision to make an official protest at this time may well have been aimed at providing domestic political cover in response to Insulza's pending election as OAS SecGen, as well as justifying to fellow OAS members its decision not/not to join consensus on that vote. END COMMENT. STRUBLE =======================CABLE ENDS============================