Ministries issue statements

Argentina condemns Chilean military slurs

Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli yesterday described a video that was released on Wednesday, in which Chilean marines are seen marching and xenophobically chanting “Argentines I will kill,” as “unacceptable,” adding “I hope that” Chilean President Sebastián Piñera’s government will take the “appropriate measures” to punish the behaviour.

“(Piñera) has already taken action in strong declarations against this incident, which is unjustifiable,” the minister went on, also arguing that “there can always be an official instructor that can have thoughts that do not coincide with the times.”

The Foreign Ministry also released a statement yesterday expressing “surprise” and calling for the punishment of those responsible.

However, a Chilean deputy insisted that the marines had “nothing to apologize for” and slammed the Navy’s response.

Bolivia also responded by stating that it would bring charges against Chile in a regional court for promoting xenophobia in its armed forces.

In a surprising twist, a video surfaced yesterday in Chile’s media that appeared to portray Argentine police cadets training in Mendoza using chants calling for violence against Chileans.

In his statement yesterday, Puricelli elaborated by asserting that UNASUR nations “have been working under the premise of peace in the region,” and “Argentina has abandoned the theories of the hypothesis of conflict,” with other nations within the region, adding he believed Chile shared the same understanding.

Chilean authorities have affirmed that the marines “have been identified,” while Defence Minister Alfonso Vargas assured the “words” in the chant, which also targeted Bolivians and Peruvians, were “offensive.”

“This will be analyzed appropriately and we’ll inform in due time, be sure of it, the result of this investigation,” Vargas told the press.

The Foreign Ministry released a communiqué yesterday expressing the “surprise” and “ill-feeling” of the government over the “violent and xenophobic chants” and called for “those responsible for such a shameful incident to receive the (consequences) prescribed by law.”

The ministry headed by Héctor Timerman called on “the values of the Great Fatherland of (José de) San Martín and (Bernardo) O’Higgins, of fraternity and integration which united the Chilean and Argentine governments and peoples, along with those of all Latin America” to highlight the absurdity of the video in the context of common history.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

Despite the incident being widely condemned by both nations, a Chilean deputy stoked the fire by playing down the xenophobic chant, ironically suggesting the Navy’s Commander-in-Chief (Edmundo González Robles) sign the marines up for “embroidery and cross-stitch lessons” if he wants “to avoid ‘violent’ chants.”

“The Navy’s reaction has been shameful,” Gonzalo Arenas tweeted, adding: “These chants have always been (present) in the armed forces, (even) when I was a cadet more than 20 years ago. The marines’ role is to go to war.”

The Bolivian government announced yesterday it will denounce Chile before the “international community,” expressing its “fervent rejection and protest” of the attacks, and calling for “measures corresponding to international norms.”

Relations between Bolivia and Chile have been tense since a war led to the latter nation taking over the former’s access to the Pacific, and the communiqué asserted that “Chile is a country that generates controversies in the region without justification, behaviour which does not contribute to the generation of trust and peace in South America.”

MENDOZA CADETS

The press in Chile yesterday considered it appropriate to disseminate a video filmed in August last year of Mendoza provincial police cadets shouting similar xenophobic chants against Chileans. The chant heard was “Little Chilean... be careful, because one night, your house I will enter. Your throat I will cut, your blood I will drink, your underwear I will smell.”

Mendoza Security Minister Carlos Aranda affirmed an investigation will be made into why the chants were made in the disturbing video.

—Herald with DyN, Telam, AP