10 March 2009: El Universal
A top Chilean defense official made the proposal to South American defense ministers
Chile proposed on Monday that the South American Defense Council (CSD), which will be officially established on Tuesday with the participation of 12 countries in the region, should disclose the military budget of each South American country.
"It is not entirely clear how much money we are spending in defense. Therefore, one of the first agreements we reached was to implement an action plan in 2009, to disclose defense spending in a transparent manner," Gonzalo García, the Chilean Undersecretary of War, told Efe.
Defense spending in Latin America and the Caribbean grew by 91 percent between 2003 and 2008, from USD 24.7 to USD 47.2 billion, according to figures released at the end of January by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
The main increases were recorded in Venezuela, due to arms purchases from Russia, and in the defense budgets of Colombia (13.5 percent), Brazil (10 percent), and Chile (8.3 percent).
