The Peruvian Congress approved this Thursday a re-entry of US military personnel with weapons of war into Peruvian territory to “support” training in the Navy, refuel and “give the crews the opportunity to rest”.
After rejecting the motion of no confidence against the Minister of Energy and Mines Oscar Vera Gargurevich, the plenary session approved the draft law resolution 5907 with 77 votes in favor, 25 against and three abstentions.
The U.S. Coast Guard will be in Paita ports Sept. 28-29; from Callao, from October 5th to 8th; and later they will return to Paita from October 14th to 16th.
The statement states that one of its objectives is to “maintain personnel at an optimal level of training so that they are qualified to develop, direct and monitor Coast Guard operations.”
Around 65 crew members and 10 officers from the North American country’s naval units will be in Peru for 19 days with 13 machine guns.
“Explanation is not enough”
Nonpartisan Congressman Alex Flores said the Commission on National Defense, Homeland Security, Alternative Development and Counternarcotics did not provide enough detail on this new proposal.
“An explanation is not enough, more details are needed,” said Flores, recalling the US war history. “Before they invaded other countries, they did educational work, this Congress cannot abdicate!” he shouted.
For his part, lawmaker Elías Varas from Perú Bicentenario expressed his “concern” about this bill and called for more “clarity” on the matter.
“They come in and we have nothing. They say they are fighting drug trafficking and we have more drugs than before, they say they come through missions in the Amazon jungle and we never have the results,” he added.
In addition, Varas called for “clear calculations”. According to the official document, the Navy will cover “the minimum operating costs included in the budget for this year.”
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During the debate, parliamentarian Jorge Montoya, from the Renovación Popular party, accused his colleagues of not having attended previous subpoenas in which they could obtain more information about this access.
“This deployment of ships is routine for coastal training,” he added.
His co-religionist José Cueto, on the other hand, emphasized that “since we have been in a democratic country, an exchange of naval units has taken place every year.”
Cueto reiterated that this was an operation against drug trafficking and that foreign troops would use “small machine guns.”
“Joint operations are carried out with each country. “It is nothing extraordinary, there is nothing that affects sovereignty here, this is training that is carried out with all countries in the world, wherever they come from,” he softened.