Colombian President Alvaro Uribe backed a proposal by Peru Thursday to cut funding for external defense and stop armament in South America.
Peruvian Justice Minister Aurelio Pastor, the leader of ‘Protocol for Peace, Security and Cooperation’, a group visiting Colombia to promote non-armament presented Uribe with a letter outlining military spending.
Pastor told EFE that the region spent US$38 billion on external defense in 2008 and US$130 billion over the last five years.
The Peruvian official said Uribe “willingly received” the proposal and was “very clear and very direct” in pointing out that Colombian military spending is directed exclusively to internal matters.