Only two scenarios could justify the lifting of the 20-year-old United States embargo on the sale of advanced weapons to Latin America. One would be an external military threat; the other, a potential weakening of our influence in the region vis-a-vis another nation or emerging power.
Neither situation exists–and the Clinton administration should resist the pressure, mostly from U.S. weapons manufacturers, to lift the embargo and sell 20 sophisticated attack jets to Chile.
With Cuba’s communist satrapy on its last legs and the former Soviet Union consumed by its own internal chaos and economic woes, there are no external threats visible on the horizon. And these same factors have combined to put the U.S. in a position of unquestioned hemispheric dominance.
Instead, an arms race in Latin America could disrupt the unprecedented peace, economic stability and democratic governments that reign in the region. Though difficult problems remain–like narco-trafficking and income inequality, to name a few–high-tech weapons are not going to alleviate them.
Indeed, a mini-arms race is already on: In January 1996, Ecuador purchased four Israeli Kfir fighters; in December, Peru, its southern neighbor, bought 12 Mig-29s from Belarus; and now Chile, the next country to the south, wants to follow suit.
National pride and one-upmanship are but two of the factors fueling the pressure to buy the newest military toys. Another is pressure from the military sector. Even in democratic Chile, the armed forces, still under the grip of former military dictator Augusto Pinochet, remain an 800-pound gorilla that demands periodic feedings.
On the U.S. side, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas and their Pentagon allies also have been lobbying the Clinton administration for the past two years for a lifting of the ban on the sale of weapons. Squeezed by a shrinking defense budget at home, they are anxious to boost sales and preserve jobs.
But the U.S. and our European allies instead should focus on promoting demilitarization in Latin America: a ban on sales of offensive weapons; agreements on military ceilings; and finally, mechanisms to promptly defuse periodic border conflicts.
Military spending is notoriously unproductive. Investment in infrastructure and economic development would do far more to improve living standards in Latin America–and to enhance regional markets for non-military products from the U.S. and its allies.
