Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic
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The armed forces of Argentina are controlled by the Commander-in-Chief (the President) and a civilian Minister of Defense. The Interior Ministry controls two paramilitary forces, the Gendarmería (Gendarmes, mostly land forces used to guard the frontiers) and the Prefectura Naval (guarding rivers and the territorial sea).
Structure
The military is under the authority of the Defense Ministry (Ministro de Defensa).
The Military is comprised of three main branches:
- The Argentine Army (Ejército Argentino)
- The Argentine Navy (Armada de la República Argentina), including Naval Aviation and Marines
- The Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina)
Additionally under the Defense Ministry is CITEFA (Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de las Fuerzas Armadas), or Scientific & Technical Research Center of the Armed Forces.
History
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Argentina had difficult relations with Chile (which almost caused a war between the two countries in 1978, on the basis of disputed islands in the Atlantic-Pacific line). Under presidents Carlos Menem and Fernando de la Rúa, international relations improved, and Argentine officials now publicly deny seeing a potential threat from any neighboring country. The multiple border disputes with Chile have been resolved.
While Mercosur is only an economic entity so far, the strengthening of confidence among the member countries has been beneficial to the peace in the region, exercising a useful role in supporting democracy. The Mercosur served, for example, to discourage the Paraguayan military during an attempted coup in early 2000.
Under president Néstor Kirchner, relations with the United States have become of a different nature. The US military has requested a guarantee of full immunity for their soldiers in case they commit a crime while in joint maneuvers in Argentine territory, and Argentina has denied this guarantee. Argentina has also distanced itself somewhat from the US in matters such as the Iraq invasion, it has abstained twice on the UN vote to condemn Cuba on the issue of human rights violations, and president Kirchner has stood in favor of the controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
Argentina has not sent troops to wars abroad in recent times, but has remained involved in UN peacekeeping efforts in multiple locations.
The Argentine military were considerably more influential in former times. Throughout the 20th century, democratic governments were more often than not interrupted by military coups d'etat (see History of Argentina). The last military dictatorship lasted from 1976 to 1983 and was termed "National Reorganization Process" by its leaders (see Proceso de Reorganización Nacional). For details on the crimes committed by the Proceso's military juntas, see Dirty War.
The Argentine armed forces maintain close defense cooperation and military-supply relationships with the United States. Other countries also have military relationships with the Argentine forces, principally Israel, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook. CIA.