The Minister of the Armed Forces (FFAA), Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez, says that 98% of the members of the military are doing their jobs, and they are always trying to do their best while carrying out their duties, “and we are not going to allow two or three to damage this hard work.” Pared Perez said that during his term in office he has not heard of any military officer with a sugarcane farm, thousands of head of cattle or luxury apartments.
He said that since the “Paya Case” he has never again heard of a military officer involved in drug trafficking. “In the Armed Forces and in any military institution in the entire world there are always going to be people who are corrupted. Now, it is in the hands of those who lead to know how to respond to those officers, to those enlisted men who commit this type of crime and, naturally, in the Armed Forces they are now discharged and sent to stand trial,” he said. Nevertheless, he said that there have been many cases lately and he added that each branch of the military now has an Internal Affairs Department that is permanently monitoring officers to see what they are doing, and “in this way we know if they go outside the lines.”
He also referred to the large number of generals in the Armed Forces with nothing to do, noting that there is a legislative proposal in the National Congress that seeks to reduce to 10 the number of generals in each institution.