Use of drones has been expanding in Argentina and the rest of South America
with the unmanned vehicles being deployed for purposes as diverse as
locating drug smuggling routes, monitoring farm crops, and looking for
archaeological sites.
According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, most of the drone technology
being sold to South American governments and companies - $500 million worth
between 2005 and 2012 - comes from Israel, but drones are also being
produced cheaply in Mexico.
The proliferation has raised concerns among human rights activists.
Speaking to South America politics magazine Upside Down World last year,
Alejandro Sanchez, senior research fellow at the Council on Hemispheric
Affairs, said: “Anyone thinking drones are financially unattainable for less
developed countries hasn’t looked at the latest models.
“There’s definitely a need for a technology that’s both cheap and can have
some really positive results but obviously there’s a possibility this
technology can be used for all the wrong reasons and, unfortunately,
throughout Latin America’s history, the abuse of power tends to happen quite
often.”