Ministerio de Defensa / Defense Ministry
Estado Mayor Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas
Main mission of the Armed Forces is to contribute to the national defense acting in dissuasive form or using means in effective form, in order to protect and to guarantee of permanent way the sovereignty and independence, territorial integrity, the capacity of self-determination, the life and freedom of the inhabitants and the resources of the Nation as opposed to the risks and possible threats of external origin. The secondary mission of the Armed Forces is to participate in Operations of Maintenance of Peace and/or multinational coalitions under mandate of International Organisms. To participate in the development of measures of cooperation and confidence mutual, regional and within the framework international, for the prevention of conflict situations.
For most of its history Argentina had no military forces deployed outside its borders or territorial waters. The only exceptions have been the Wars of Independence (1816-1824), the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870), and arguably, the 1982 war in the South Atlantic. Argentina remained neutral in both World War I and World War II, declaring war on the Axis in the latter mostly to become a charter member of the United Nations and so avoid losing prestige and voice in the postwar order.
Argentina was a reluctant partner in most international security arrangements until quite recently. Immediately following World War II the Juan Perón administration sought to make Argentina a Western Hemispheric rival to Brazil and even the United States for influence in South America. As with most countries in the Southern Cone, Argentine military doctrine at that time adhered to a geopolitical view of the world. Following Perón's political demise in 1955, however, the armed forces--who would be either in government or only a step away for the next twenty-eight years--assumed a purely national focus. They saw their roles and missions both in terms of internal security (preventing infiltration of local groups by communist cadres to foment insurgencies--a mission that would culminate in the "dirty war" of 1976-1979) and of external security (seeking to secure Argentina's borders and territorial claims, including most of the South Atlantic islands and a slice of Antarctica).
Two fundamental facts in the historical development of the defense and the Ministry of Defense took place with the promulgation, the 13 of June of 1958, of the Law of Ministries 14,439 Nº and the sanction by the National Congress of the Law of National defense N° 23,554 of the 13/04/88. By law 14,439 it was consecrated the present Ministry of Defense and disappeared the previous ministries of Defense, military, of Navy and Aeronautics, and its objective would be to coordinate and to supervise plans, actions and policies that allowed the forces to fulfill of more effective and forceful way the important mission reserved for them in the National Constitution. These two norms (Law 14,439 and 23,554 ) consolidate to the Ministry of Defense like the national organism in charge of all the related one to the defense of our country.
The Ministry of Defense worked administratively between 1958 and 1967 in the Pink House, as of that year until 1997 in Stroll Columbus 255, city of Buenos Aires; year in which within the Program of Reconstruction and Rationalization of the ministry, it left the old seat and was transferred to its present seat in the Liberating Building located in Azopardo 250 of the city.
President Carlos Saúl Menem of Argentina has developed a military policy directed at increased participation in peacekeeping activities and projecting the image of a reliable international partner. This policy also offers the government a degree of leverage in the international arena. This can include offering the participation of armed forces in exchange for political and/or economic concessions from the world community. The number of Argentines deployed with the UN increased over 400 percent in six years -- from 20 observers in 1988 to over 1,400 troops in 1994. There were 890 Argentines in the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in the former Yugoslavia and over 500 others stationed in eight other UN missions. If the current Argentine troop-rotation pattern continued, it was expected that better than 50 percent of the military's permanent personnel would have served with the UN.
The present Combined Headquarters of the Armed Forces (EMCO - Estado Mayor Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas) has its origin in Law 13,234 sanctioned by the Congress of the Nation the 9 of September of 1948. The same one established the general guidelines referred to the National defense, considering the new effective concepts in the world to the light of the experiences gathered when finalizing World War II.
In fulfillment of the mission to coordinate and to direct the efforts of the three Armed Forces and the Operational Strategic Commandos, in all the missions and situations on which the average military had to insist, the Combined headquarters of the Armed Forces organized an Operations center of Emergencias (COE).
