The issue of civil-military relations has traditionally addressed, as such, the processes of civil-military relations. But the current context in Latin America demands that we separate these processes and understand their differentiation, incidence and influence. It is in the Ministries of Defense where these processes are best exemplified. In the vertical sense, it is the political-military relationship, as a dimension of power, where politicians must exercise the political leadership of defense and all its implications, and the military, as direct advisors to the subject, and executors of the military policy with political supervision. And civil-military relations, as a horizontal dimension, do not imply any relationship of power, but of knowledge. In some countries where defense communities have been created, they can be a space for consultation on this policy and other issues of interest to defense and military affairs.
