URUGUAY: Regional Defence Ministers, including U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, gather for conference of Western Hemisphere nations

Record ID: 351550

  • Title: URUGUAY: Regional Defence Ministers, including U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, gather for conference of Western Hemisphere nations
  • Date: 9th October 2012
  • Summary: PUNTA DEL ESTE, URUGUAY (OCTOBER 08, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF MILITARY FORT EXTERIOR HOTEL WHERE SUMMIT TOOK PLACE INTERIOR AND MEETING BEGINNING VARIOUS OF DEFENCE MINISTERS AT TABLE GENERAL VIEW OF U.S. DELEGATION DELEGATIONS FROM GUYANA, HONDURAS, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PARAGUAY AND PERU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) URUGUAYAN DEFENCE MINISTER ELEUTERIO FERNANDE
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uruguay
  • Country: Uruguay
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1P46RAQ68RXMB2BX5APS5H3PI
  • Story Text: Defence ministers from throughout the Western Hemisphere, including U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, met in Uruguay on Monday (October 08) to discuss regional concerns.
    Delegations from Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, Peru and Guyana were among those taking part in the discussions.
    Uruguay's defence minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro, said traditional definitions of the region no longer work.
    "There's no first, second of third world. They don't exist. There's no south versus north either, because now there are norths in the south and souths in the north," Huidobro said.
    Peru's Vice Minister of Defence Mario Gomez said the summit was all about improving collaboration.
    "For Peru, it's an honour they have given us the president's position meeting at this forum, which has the goal of lending a valuable space for debate from countries all over the hemisphere, trying to raise our collaboration on defence and security," the Peruvian said.
    Uruguay's President Jose Mujica also spoke at the meeting.
    "More and more this world needs people who think in a global sense about humanity's interests," Mujica said.
    Speaking behind closed doors, the United States' Panetta urged Latin Aermica not to use the military as police.
    "The world is processing a digital generation and an exchange of information in cultural forms that is headed toward new horizons. This is perhaps the most severe contradiction because we can't stop being who we are, and humanity will begin to ask the people who govern somatically while looking at the world in a different way," Mujica added.
    Panetta was on the last day of a three-day visit to South America, where he pressed for greater collaboration among militaries as part of the Pentagon's new defence strategy.
    The Pentagon's Western Hemisphere Defense Policy Statement released last week emphasized threats like terrorism and drug trafficking, and called for the Pentagon to help partner countries - those with whom the United States does not have a formal treaty of alliance - develop and professionalize their military forces.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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