This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

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============================