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Peru/Chile - APEC summit
Peru cancels talks with Chile amid espionage row
Article published on the 2009-11-14 Latest update 2009-11-14 16:53 TU
Peru's President Alan Garcia arrives Saturday for the APEC Leaders Summit in Singapore
(Photo: Reuters)
Peru and Chile are embroiled in a serious diplomatic row, after two Chilean military officials were allegedly found to be spying in Peru. The espionage claims forced the cancellation of Sunday’s APEC meeting in Singapore between Peru's President, Alan Garcia, and his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet.
A Peruvian court has begun extradition proceedings against the two Chilean officers, while the government has launched an official inquiry, justice officials said.
The Chileans, identified as Daniel Marquez Torrealba and Victor Vergara Rojas, were allegedly working with an officer of the Peruvian Air Force, Victor Ariza Mendoza, whose detention officials announced on Thursday.
News reports said that Ariza, who worked in 2002 in Peru's embassy in Santiago, has been charged with "revealing state secrets, money laundering and espionage."
Authorities said they were looking into the possible involvement of another Peruvian military officer in the case.
The row prompted Garcia on Saturday to cancel planned talks with Bachelet and quit a regional Pacific summit a day early.
"I am returning 24 hours earlier than scheduled so I can obtain complete and sufficient information (on the issue) and to be able to speak from Peru," Garcia said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit.
Also speaking in Singapore, Peru's foreign minister, Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde, decried an "offensive act" by Chile, and called on Santiago to launch "an investigation into who in Chile gave the order" behind the alleged spying operation.
The rift is the most serious in years between the two neighbors, which have had a long-running dispute over their maritime border in the Pacific Ocean. Peru claims an area of about 100,000 square kilometers which currently is under Chilean control.
