The Peruvian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs resigned, alleging that interim president José María Balcázar misled the country about a fighter jet purchase agreement which, according to them, was signed despite the head of state’s denials.
The US$3.5 billion deal to buy 24 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters was due to be signed on Friday. Balcázar canceled it at the last moment, stating that the next elected president of the country should decide on the matter. However, two senior officials now say that the contract was signed by the military on Monday.
“Balcázar lied to the country; he knew that two contracts were signed on Monday” to buy the fighters, said the outgoing foreign minister Hugo de Zela in an interview with RPP radio on Wednesday.
The statements increase the pressure on Balcázar, an 83-year-old interim leader from a far-left party who has resisted backing the purchase despite Washington’s and the Peruvian Armed Forces’ insistence. The military views the new fleet not only as a boost to firepower but also as a way to obtain, even implicitly, the support of the United States. Balcázar took office in February, and his term runs only until July.
“A strategic decision was taken on a national security issue about which I have significant disagreements,” said Defense Minister Carlos Díaz Dañino in his resignation letter, referring to the fighters.
Balcázar stated that any decision to sign the deal for the fighters without his approval would be irregular. The president and the Ministry of Economy still control the release of any resources for the purchase, according to Luis Miguel Castilla, former Economy minister and former Peruvian ambassador to the U.S.
“In the end, the president has the political power to authorize or not and to choose not to issue a decree” that would enable the payment, Castilla said in an interview.
This decision could come soon, since an initial payment has already come due, according to De Zela.
“Today is a decisive day because the contract states that today is the deadline to make the first payment,” the former chancellor said in the interview with the radio.
The Peru is in the middle of general elections, with the conservative Keiko Fujimori prepared to dispute the second round, in June, against the leftist Roberto Sánchez or the former mayor of Lima Rafael López Aliaga. Both Fujimori and López Aliaga have already stated that Peru should sign the contract with Lockheed, while Sánchez questions why the country needs to spend billions on defense instead of investing in social programs.
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