Chilean military puts on a new face

SANTIAGO, Chile — Heads high, they march in awkward sync as their parents look on proudly.

It’s Day One of military service for these recruits in the Chilean army. Decked out for the last time in civilian skirts and blazers, high heels clunking on the pavement, these women know it will be a year of huge change for them and for the military units they are joining.

This is only the second year that female recruits have been allowed into the Chilean army to serve as real soldiers. Women have had limited roles for the past nine years, but they have made major inroads in the past two.

One in five new officers in training is female, an impressive statistic on a continent where many countries still don’t allow women into the armed forces.

“Today, we have the same rights as our male counterparts,” said Lt. Viviana Chamorro, one of the first women to train as an officer nine years ago. “We can now use all weaponry and have no disadvantages at any level.”

This opening for women coincides with a transformation of the military.

Around the world, the Chilean military still evokes images of fear. It became infamous during the 17-year military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and Chilean exiles have made sure that the world doesn’t forget the killings, torture and human rights abuses of that time.

Leftist governments have been trying to polish the country’s tarnished image since the end of military rule in 1990, but the push to modernize Chile’s military has intensified.

In the past year, Chilean troops embarked on peacekeeping missions to places such as Bosnia, Cyprus and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In March, Chile jumped at the chance to serve in Haiti, its first peacemaking mission — the term for Chapter 7, armed U.N. operations in which international forces impose peace, not just preserve it. Within 48 hours, Chile had 330 troops on the move in its largest foreign deployment since the 19th century.

As a result, 433 Chilean officers are serving abroad, a number that will rise higher than 700 this month. In 2002, only 33 officers were serving abroad.

This increased participation and the new types of missions have altered the way Chile trains its military personnel.

In the Andean foothills at a classroom in suburban Santiago, British officer Matthew Baker is teaching 20 police and forensic officers how to deal with nongovernmental organizations in the field. It is one of the regular classes offered by Chile’s Joint Center for Training in Peacekeeping.

About 600 personnel have been trained here since center opened in 2002. Officers from around the world come to teach Chilean military, police, lawyers and doctors topics such as ethics, negotiations, international human rights law and conceptual frameworks of the United Nations.

Contributing to U.N.-led missions is a goal behind Chile’s push to modernize its military. Chile is a rotating member of the Security Council, and the Socialist government of President Ricardo Lagos has put joint global action at the forefront of its foreign policy.

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