The U.S. and Peru are renegotiating their long-standing defense cooperation treaty, as announced by the countries’ defense chiefs in a joint press conference in Lima earlier this month. In an email interview, Louis Goodman, the dean emeritus of the American University School of International Service, discussed U.S.-Peru defense cooperation.
WPR: What is the extent of present-day defense cooperation between the U.S. and Peru?
Louis Goodman: The United States and Peru have strong cooperative relations, which have been enhanced in recent years. Signatories of the 1947 hemisphere-wide Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, which commits parties to mutual defense, the two nations announced on Oct. 6 their intention to update their 1952 bilateral defense cooperation agreement. The two nations have wide-ranging defense cooperation activities, including joint training and force coordination as well as programs focusing on peacekeeping operations, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. In the past five years Peru has received more than $200 million in United States grant aid to its military and police.