http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1543
Venezuela Signs Helicopter Deal with Russia, Boosts Border Security
Friday, Mar 11, 2005
By: Jonah Gindin
Caracas -- Venezuelan Minister of Defense Gen. Jorge Carneiro signed a
contract for 10 military helicopters--9 combat, 1 transport--with the
Russian state-owned enterprise Rosoboronexport, yesterday.
Signed at the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, the $120 million deal is
the first step in a ‘declaration of intent’ that the two countries
signed last November, which would bring 30 more helicopters and
100,000 Kalashnikov (AK-47) semi-automatic rifles to Venezuela.
According to Venezuelan officials, the AK-47s will be used to replace
old equipment, while the helicopters will be used to patrol
Venezuela’s 1,400-mile border with Colombia, which is often
infiltrated by Colombian paramilitaries, guerillas, and
drug-traffickers.
Last September, six Venezuelan soldiers and one oil engineer were
killed in an ambush by unidentified gunmen on the Colombian frontier
in the Venezuelan state of Apure.
And in May, 2004 over 100 Colombian paramilitaries were captured at a
ranch outside the Venezuelan capital Caracas, in an apparent plan to
violently destabilize the country.
Yet the recent arms acquisition, and a preliminary deal for Venezuela
to purchase fighter planes from Brazil, has provoked harsh criticism
from Washington.
In a recent statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Western Hemispheric
Affairs Roger Noriega expressed the Bush administration’s
preoccupation with Venezuelan arms purchases in light of their alleged
ties to Colombian guerillas.
Chávez’ "suspect relationship with destabilizing forces in the region
and his plans for arms purchases are causes of major concern to the
Bush Administration," Noriega told the committee.
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Bush, of course, would prefer to see Venezuela defenseless
because.......well....................................you know
Harry
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