US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday criticized Venezuela's reported efforts to purchase 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Russia, suggesting that Venezuela's possession of so many weapons would threaten the hemisphere.
Harsh accusations and increasing animosity have marked the relationship between the US and Venezuela. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has warned that he will cut off shipments of his country's oil to the US if the Bush administration supports an attempt to force him from office.
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and provides about 13 percent of US crude oil imports.
Rumsfeld, during a four-day trip to Latin America, raised concerns about the reports of Venezuela's rifle purchases.
"I can't imagine what's going to happen to 100,000 AK-47s," Rumsfeld said at a news conference in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, which shares a border with Venezuela. "I can't understand why Venezuela needs 100,000 AK-47s. I personally hope it doesn't happen. I can't imagine if it did happen it would be good for the hemisphere."
Rumsfeld appeared with Brazil's vice president and defense minister, Jose Alencar, who declined to offer similar criticism of Chavez. Alencar would only say that Brazil respects the right of self-determination of other countries.
Venezuela says its military has about 100,000 troops, plus 30,000 reservists. The US is concerned that the weapons are intended for domestic militias or foreign guerillas.
Venezuela had no immediate reaction to Rumsfeld's comments. Chavez has insisted that his government poses no threat to the region and top Venezuelan officials have defended the purchases as necessary replacements for existing weapons. Venezuelan officials also have said the weapons are solely for the military.
A senior US defense official, speaking about Venezuela only on condition of anonymity, said weapons are expected to arrive in a few months. Venezuela also is negotiating for the purchase of at least 40 Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters, at least 30 Russian attack helicopters, and possibly some Spanish naval vessels, the official said, citing public statements from Venezuelan officials and US intelligence.
Some of the larger weapons systems, such as the helicopters, are useful in border patrol and other operations that the Pentagon regards as legitimate. But the small arms are harder to track and could more easily end up in criminal or guerrilla hands, even if Chavez does not intend for them to be transferred.
In addition, the US official said Chavez is looking to build a small arms ammunition factory that can make the 7.62mm bullets that are in common use among guerillas and criminals, as well as some militaries. That deal is in negotiation.
The chief guerrilla group in neighboring Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC, has faced a shortage in such ammunition and is paying US$1 a round or higher, in some cases, the official said. The US state department considers FARC a terrorist organization; Brazil does not.
Many of these groups are armed with weapons and ammunition from Nicaragua, a former Soviet client. That source has dried up with a pro-US administration in power in Nicaragua.
Many Latin America nations has reduced the size of their militaries since the violence of the 1980s. Officials fear Chavez's actions could lead to a new arms race.
TIT-FOR-TAT: The arrest of Filipinos that Manila said were in China as part of a scholarship program follows the Philippines’ detention of at least a dozen Chinese The Philippines yesterday expressed alarm over the arrest of three Filipinos in China on suspicion of espionage, saying they were ordinary citizens and the arrests could be retaliation for Manila’s crackdown against alleged Chinese spies. Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos and accused them of working for the Philippine National Security Council to gather classified information on its military, the state-run China Daily reported earlier this week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime. The National Security Council disputed Beijing’s accusations, saying the three were former recipients of a government scholarship program created under an agreement between the
ACCESS DISPUTE: The blast struck a house, and set cars and tractors alight, with the fires wrecking several other structures and cutting electricity An explosion killed at least five people, including a pregnant woman and a one-year-old, during a standoff between rival groups of gold miners early on Thursday in northwestern Bolivia, police said, a rare instance of a territorial dispute between the nation’s mining cooperatives turning fatal. The blast thundered through the Yani mining camp as two rival mining groups disputed access to the gold mine near the mountain town of Sorata, about 150km northwest of the country’s administrative capital of La Paz, said Colonel Gunther Agudo, a local police officer. Several gold deposits straddle the remote area. Agudo had initially reported six people killed,
Sitting around a wrestling ring, churchgoers roared as local hero Billy O’Keeffe body-slammed a fighter named Disciple. Beneath stained-glass windows, they whooped and cheered as burly, tattooed wresters tumbled into the aisle during a six-man tag-team battle. This is Wrestling Church, which brings blood, sweat and tears — mostly sweat — to St Peter’s Anglican church in the northern England town of Shipley. It is the creation of Gareth Thompson, a charismatic 37-year-old who said he was saved by pro wrestling and Jesus — and wants others to have the same experience. The outsized characters and scripted morality battles of pro wrestling fit
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
RSS