On March 1, 2004, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos informed the nation of the decision to send troops to Haiti as part of a multinational peace mission (MINUSTAH), under the mandate of the United Nations. This decision made Chile the first country in Latin America to join the United States, Canada and France in a stabilization force in the Caribbean after the fall of Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide and it is Chile's the largest deployment in its long history of support for peace missions. In Chile, this initiative generated intense political debate in international analysis and defense circles concerning the suitability of sending this deployment on a mission such as MINUSTAH. It is the purpose of this document to discuss the conditions that led Chile to take part in this mission and its context and to offer a documented assessment of an issue that is still new within the country and of the participation of Chilean forces in missions under Chapter VII.
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This work is limited to South America. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the proliferation of small arms widely promotes asymmetrical threats, also called new threats. It initially addresses the present world situation, which is considered to include the concepts of globalization and transnationalization, taking the events of September 11, 2001 as a fundamental milestone. It then analyzes the concept of threat as it affects international security; the need to extend the strict application of the concept of defense to that of national security; the meaning of protection, of asymmetry and related concepts; and the involvement of small arms, particularly illegal ones. It analyzes the interrelationship between asymmetrical threats on the basis of leading cases in this issue. Colombia and its "gray areas" is one case considered and the work goes on to address the relationship between these threats and small weapons. It includes an analysis of the concepts of arms, a combined look at the evolution of the international situation in small arms, their illegal trade and leading cases in the link between new threats and weapons in Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia. The work closes with partial conclusions concerning the State's position with regard to small arms and asymmetrical threats and offers a general, broad conclusion on the issue, confirming the stated objective.
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The document presents a study of how many components of the process of change in the United States of America can influence or come to have an influence on operational compatibility between the Argentina Navy and the US Navy within the medium term, in accordance with the leadership guidelines, and believing that it could serve as a foundation for a series of discussion meetings on this issue. The "joint" setting is a vital component in the following analysis, as it is one of the conceptual bases of the aforementioned change.
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The process of legislative approval of the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism has provided an interesting opportunity for reflection on some aspects of the international legal framework for fighting terrorism. In this essay, the author reviews some of the principal requirements in the international struggle against terrorism beginning on September 11, 2001, in light of Costa Rica's criminal legislation. The author also analyzes specific topics that have also been the subject of debate in other countries and international forums, such as the lack of a universal definition of "terrorism."
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This article traces the rise of small arms and light weapons control into the international agenda. It contends that a norm building process happened throughout the 1990s focusing on creating standards and measures seeking to curb the unrestricted availability of small arms worldwide, especially their illicit small arms trafficking, in all aspects. This articles also points to a change in the arms control paradigm: from one that did not pay attention to small arms as a separate subject of arms control to a new one where small arms became a subject of importance in the international security agenda. In these processes, the author unveils who were the most important actors in the complex and multi-layered process of placing a new subject in the spotlight of international action. It finishes by describing the legal and political framework existent at the disposal of states and non-governmental organizations, i.e. treaties, conventions, and programs for research and action on small arms control.
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This chapter reviews the key lessons from the various research papers. In general, it points out that the research supported the hypotheses on which the study is based. The papers thus supported the importance of prestige, international obligations, hemispheric solidarity, and a residual support for the U.S. as motivations. But it also emphasized that the Latin Americans put more weight on the UN Charter than does the U.S. It also reinforced the importance of domestic political issues and considerations. While the research also supported the notion that political will was a necessary condition for participation in a PKO it did not validate its sufficiency. Rather, the lack of capability in terms of resources was shown to be even more important in some cases than political will. Finally, the research showed that there are a significant number of actions that can be taken by the nations of the hemisphere that will increase their individual and collective capacity to conduct PKO and other integrated operations.
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This article presents a reflective description of Bolivia’s participation in the UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations in the Republic of Haiti, in which several Latin American countries are participating. It points out the motives that led the Bolivian government to participate in the operations, and the decisions taken in the various areas of the Executive Branch, National Congress, and National Police Command to send a contingent of police agents to perform advisory and patrol tasks and provide training for Haitian police forces. It also shows the objectives of the participation, both for the Bolivian government and for the police and chiefs and officers that were at the scene of the intervention. In addition, it discusses the possibilities of effectiveness of combined forces in joint peacekeeping tasks and how those experiences can create a regional capability for facing outbreaks of armed confrontations in a timely and effective manner.
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The article centers on the factors that influenced Peru’s decision to participate in the peacekeeping operations in Haiti, as well as the difficulties it had to face in order to implement that decision. Perhaps the most important influencing factor was the reinsertion of the Peruvian Armed Force in the Western military community after years of struggling against Sendero Luminoso, which had led to serious human rights violations. Other important factors were the aim of achieving prestige and a presence on the international stage, the economic advantages to be gained for the troops, the training benefits, and lastly collaboration with the United States in a mission that was of interest to that country.
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This paper intends to provide an understanding of the Brazilian involvement in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). To that end, it discusses and reviews, based on public information sources, the Brazilian decision to approve, participate and lead the MINUSTAH task force; describes the political path actually followed for achieving an effective decision-making implementation, emphasizing some controversial issues that were submitted to the National Congress for consideration; and some of the mission’s internal goals are also discussed, with emphasis on certain controversial issues. Some of the conclusions are not in tune with what is usually believed and interpreted in Brazil by the general public: for instance, an existing link, as far as MINUSTAH is concerned, between the more visible Brazilian political goals and any other long-term economic goals; the likelihood of the Brazilian decision altering the country's foreign policy nature, and therefore, facing more resistance in the National Congress for any government decisions; and having a Group of Marines (Fuzileiros Navais) attached to an Army Commander is also identified as a significant innovation in Brazilian military operations.
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