PERU'S TAKE ON ECUADOR UNASUR MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 001398

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PE
SUBJECT: PERU'S TAKE ON ECUADOR UNASUR MEETING

Classified By: DCM James Nealon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: DCM met September 18 with MFA Undersecretary
for the Americas Javier Leon to discuss the September 15
UNASUR ministerial meeting in Quito. Leon described the
meeting as "difficult and unproductive," mainly because
Colombia had dug in its heels over Brazil's request for
further assurances on the DCA, while Chile was too quickly
dismissive of President Garcia's arms control, regional
defense forces and non-aggression proposals. Below are
selected comments by Leon during the encounter. End Summary.


2. (C) Colombian/US DCA Controversy
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-- The Quito UNASUR meeting appeared to be "too hastily put
together" in the aftermath of the UNASUR Presidents meeting,
that took place in Bariloche just two weeks ago.

-- Ecuador was reasonably polite during the long discussions,
but Venezuela was typically bombastic on the DCA and asserted
that the bases could be used for staging bombers -- which was
the rationale behind Venezuela's recent arms purchases from
Russia.

-- The Venezuelans said that Uribe had promised assurances
and more details on the DCA at Bariloche.

-- But the Colombian Defense and Foreign Ministers were
unwilling to entertain any requests for follow-on information
on the DCA, in particular from the Brazilians, who were
seeking written assurances regarding the protections in the
agreement on cross-border attacks. They verbally assured the
ministers that the defense cooperation agreement was not
threatening to other states. They said they could not
provide assurances until after the document had completed its
internal review and been signed. They also said they would
have to consult with the United States. According to Leon,
there was a general negative reaction to this plan, since (he
said) "all agreements have to be submitted to the United
nations for publication anyway." Leon emphasized that all
attendees want guarantees that U.S. forces at the bases in
question won't be deployed outside of Colombia.

-- Brazil pressed Colombia hard to the point that Brazilian
FM Amorim became infuriated and later had to apologize to
Colombian MOD Silva.


3. (C) Garcia's Proposal
--------------
-- Peru actively participated at the meeting and circulated a
letter from President Garcia to the FMs and MODs aimed at
preventing an arms race in the region, reducing military
expenditures, proposing a non-aggression pact and fielding
the idea of a regional defense force ("Fuerza de Paz") to
dissuade conflict among the South American States. (Note: We
will email a copy of the letter to Peru desk. End Note.)

-- Most of the Ministers reacted positively "to the spirit"
of Garcia's letter, except for Chile. The Peruvians were
later especially irritated by Chilean MOD Valer's comparison
of Garcia's non-aggression idea with the 1938 pact between
Hitler and Stalin that divided Poland.

Comment: Hasty and Unproductive
--------------

4. (C) Leon said that the UNASUR ministerial followed too
closely on the heels of the Presidential meeting in
Bariloche, which left them them insufficient time to properly
staff and prepare. There is no scheduled follow-on meeting
as yet. One consequence of the haste was that polemical
issues were hashed out verbally but the discussions resulted
in no formal written document, making the prospect of
follow-through unlikely. Meanwhile, the Peruvians are
clearly peeved by what they perceive as Chile's facile
dismissal of Garcia's serious common defense pact,
non-aggression and arms-curbing initiatives -- exacerbating
an already sensitive and prickly relationship.
MCKINLEY