Chile’s Minister of
Defense Edmundo Perez Yoma signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997
and stated, “We are aware that our work does not finish here, in Ottawa.
Chile will completely fulfill the obligations of this Treaty, in the terms it
establishes. It will be an additional step in the changes that are taking place
in the Americas region after the Cold War, where we are assisting in an
auspicious process of creating new links, especially in South
America.”[1]
Chile has not yet ratified the ban treaty. Ratification legislation was
approved by the House of Deputies in October 1998 and is currently before the
Senate. Its review was delayed by the summer recess and other issues. Some
Congressional deputies criticized the decision to sign the treaty by arguing
that removal of mines along the northern border (especially between Boundary
Posts 1 and 14, from Arica to Antofagasta) would “facilitate drug
trafficking in northern Chile, weaken Chile’s national defenses, and
divert substantial
resources.”[2]
Chile participated in all of the ban treaty preparatory meetings, endorsed
the pro-treaty Brussels Declaration, and took part in the Oslo negotiations.
Uruguay also voted in favor of the pro-ban UN General Assembly resolutions in
1996, 1997 and 1998, as well as the pro-ban resolutions of the Organization of
American States (OAS).
Chile is also in the process of ratifying the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) and its amended Landmine Protocol. At the treaty signing
ceremonies Perez Yoma remarked that “Chile thinks both instruments are a
significant contribution to creating an atmosphere of real confidence and
transparency in the international
community.”[3]
Chile is a member of the Conference on Disarmament and is committed to
“persist in our efforts to ensure that the Conference on Disarmament
complements the progress that [the Mine Ban] Treaty
represents.”[4] Chile
was one of twenty-two CD members that in February 1999 jointly called for the
appointment of a Special Coordinator on AP mines, and the establishment of an Ad
Hoc Committee to negotiate an export
ban.[5]
On 14 July 1998, Chilean President Eduardo Frei signed the Political
Declaration of the Southern Commercial Market (MERCOSUR). MERCOSUR was founded
by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. In the sixth point of the MERCOSUR
document, governments agree “to work towards being able to declare
MERCOSUR, Bolivia and Chile zones free of antipersonnel landmines and propose to
enlarge this zone to include the entire Western Hemisphere.”
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use
According to the Foreign Ministry, Chile has not
produced or exported antipersonnel mines since
1985.[6] In the past, Chile
produced the following antipersonnel mines: the MAP II blast mine; the MAPP 78
F-2 fragmentation mine (pressure activated and tripwire versions); another
fragmentation mine without nomenclature; and three directional fragmentation
mines (Claymore-types)--the M18, M18A1, and one without
nomenclature.[7] They were
manufactured by both the publicly-owned FAMAE (Fabricaciones Militares
Facilities) and the private company Industrias
Cardoen.[8] Cardoen made M18,
MAP II, and the two fragmentation mines without nomenclature. The Foreign
Ministry states that it no longer produces any antipersonnel mines, including
Claymore-types.[9]
Information on which countries Chile exported mines to is not available. It
is known that Chile imported 300,000 M14 antipersonnel mines from the United
States in 1975.[10] The M14 is
a small, plastic, hard-to-detect, blast mine that is prohibited by both the Mine
Ban Treaty and the CCW.
Details on the size and composition of Chile’s antipersonnel mine
stockpile are not available. The Army and Navy are exploring options to come up
with a timetable for destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel landmines once
Chile ratifies the
treaty.[11]
The Foreign Ministry states that Chile no longer uses antipersonnel mines,
though it has laid them on its borders in the
past.[12]
Landmine Problem
In September 1997, a Defense Ministry official said
that Chile has planted nearly one million antitank and antipersonnel landmines
on Chile’s borders with Argentina, Bolivia and
Peru.[13] Other estimates have
ranged between 500,000 and one
million.[14] According to the
government, the mined areas are “perfectly marked” to ensure the
effective exclusion of civilians, and thus a mine awareness education program
would not be necessary.[15]
Many of the mines were laid in Patagonia during the 1978 crisis between
Argentina and Chile. Over 800 hectares of land were mined on the border with
Peru during a 1975 crisis.[16]
One of the mined areas is located near Paso Tromen, about 70 kilometers from
Junin de los Andes, a very important tourist city situated near the Lanin
volcano. An estimated 80,000 landmines laid by Chile lie in an area of around
10,000 square meters between the towns of Todos los Santos and the Salar de
Uyuni.[17]
There are several casualties to landmines every year in Chile but the exact
number is unknown. In July 1998, the Arica police confirmed that a 17-year-old
Peruvian who was attempting to enter Chile illegally lost his right leg when he
stepped on a landmine.[18]
Livestock and wildlife also fall casualty to mines in Chile’s border
areas.
Mine Clearance
On 8 September 1997, Eduardo Santos, adviser to the
Chilean Ministry of Defense, estimated that it would take between five and ten
years to remove the nearly one million mines on Chile’s borders, at a cost
of approximately U.S.$ 300
million.[19]
On 31 October 1997, the Chilean ambassador in Buenos Aires, Eduardo Rodriguez
Guarachi, said that his country “had made the political decision to
eliminate the antipersonnel mines” on the border with
Argentina.[20] “Though it
is not something easily done, Chile is determined and will make a resolute
contribution to put an end to this serious problem,” he said.
On 1 July 1998, Minister of Defense Raul Troncoso testified to Chile’s
Commission of Defense of the Lower House that Chile could not yet clear the
mines on the border because of the high
cost.[21] Deputy Francisco
Encina, President of the Commission, stated that the difficult Chilean economic
situation made it very difficult to remove all the landmines quickly, but
suggested improving warning signs, especially in national
parks.[22] The Army is studying
the best solution to the clearance problem and is considering purchase of mine
detector vehicles.[23]
Chile contributes to international humanitarian mine action by providing
military personnel to mine clearance efforts, including under the OAS program
in Central America.
[1] Statement by Edmundo
Perez Yoma, Minister of Defense, Chile, to the Treaty Signing Conference,
Ottawa, Canada, 3 December 1997.
[2] The deputies which spoke
out against the treaty were from the following parties: National Renewal (RN),
PS (Socialist Party), Independent Democratic Union (UDI) and Party for Democracy
(PPD). “Deputies Criticize Land Mine Convention Signing,” FBIS
translation WA0910004998 of article in Santiago Estrategia, 8 October
1998.
[3] Statement by Edmundo
Perez Yoma, Minister of Defense, 3 December 1997.
[5] Statement by Bulgarian
Ambassador Petko Draganov to the Conference on Disarmament, undated but February
1999.
[6] Response to Landmine
Monitor Questionnaire by the Foreign Ministry of Chile, through its Ambassador
to Uruguay, Amb. Augusto Bermudez Arancibia, 2 February 1999.
[7] U.S. Department of
Defense, “Mine Facts” CD Rom.
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