A short list of potential bilateral conflict situations would include: Guyana-Venezuela; Venezuela-Colombia; Ecuador-Peru; Peru-Chile; Bolivia-Chile; Chile-Argentina; Argentina-Brazil; Argentina-United Kingdom.
Within the over-all shift from competition to cooperation between these two major forces in South America, there is a strategic component that is remarkable in light of the fact that the contingency planning of these two nations always included the "war hypothesis" of armed conflict between them.
One basic CBM has been the periodic meetings of senior representatives of their General Staffs to discuss matters of common interest and plan for specific measures of military-to-military cooperation such as exchanges of information and joint arms manufacturing.
The improvement in relations between these two countries is equally remarkable, given their historic rivalry and the fact that they almost went to war in 1978 over the issue of the Beagle Channel Islands in their far southern frontier.
As examples we can cite periodic meetings of the senior naval regional commanders in Puerto Williams, Chile and Ushuaia, Argentina (both sites are on the Beagle Channel).
Likewise, southern air force commanders of Chile and Argentine have "hot lines", and meet periodically to minimize the danger that border incidents might lead to something more serious.
High-level discussions between Presidents Menem and Aylwin over remaining border issues were accompanied by lower-level military contacts and exchange of visits aimed at enhancing CBMs.