A supreme resolution specifies that the visit will last until August 12 and during his stay in Washington he plans to meet with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere, Daniel Erikson.
He adds appointments with the senior White House advisor on security and defense issues, the deputy director for the Western Hemisphere, the head of the National Guard, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the director of the Center of Hemispheric Defense Studies.
He will also meet with the director of the Inter-American Defense College and the president of the Council of Delegates of the Inter-American Defense Board.
The trip takes place when a contingent of 500 US soldiers has been in this country for more than two months, according to the official version, for training and support to the Peruvian Armed Forces.
The Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, announced that among the issues that the Minister of Defense will deal with is the radar surveillance of drug-trafficking planes, which does not shoot them down but rather captures and destroys them after they land.
The Peruvian Air Force (FAP) is prevented from shooting them down in the air because the United States has vetoed the use of the so-called air interdiction following a tragedy recorded 22 years ago.
The prohibition, product of the influence of Washington in the anti-drug repression, is due to the fact that in 2001 an operation supervised by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States (CIA) ended with the demolition of a seaplane by a FAP combat ship and a couple of Christian missionaries and their two small children died.
On the other hand, Vice Admiral José Polar Figari, who has been trained in the United States, took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy today, according to Congressman Wilson Quispe, who said last night that this demonstrates the pro-Washington policy of President Dina Boluarte.
Polar replaces Admiral Alberto Alcalá, for having completed the two reglamentary years in office.
At the same time, the Government extended for one year the stay of the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, General Manuel Gómez de la Torre.
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