ABSTRACT
The 1981 armed conflict between Ecuador and Peru, as well as the 1982 Anglo-Argentine confrontation over the Malvinas, have dramatized the ineffectiveness of the mechanisms for resolution of tensions and conflicts among South American countries. The different government policies are mostly defined by the military, in relation to national strategies and specific inter-american political contingencies. International political-military initiatives will then be strongly affected by the way in which domestic military elements are constituted historically in each particular case. Mexico has followed a consistent disarmament policy in making proposals of her own, supporting almost all the initiatives of this kind in the United Nations and playing an active role in the implementation of disarmament policies. The group of initiatives intended to control agreements in South America has had meager results. The capability of controlling interstate conflicts in South America through appropriate foreign policies depends on several factors.
