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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela Tames the Troops |
| 2005-07-20 |
| July 20, 2005: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez seems to be working on several fronts to keep his armed forces in line. He's done some shaking up of the command structure, replacing older officers with ones who may perhaps be more beholden to him. He has also raised pay considerably, probably as a way of keeping the troops happy, and has undertaken the development of the "Bolivarian Militia," an alternative likely to be more useful in the event of a coup than in the less likely event of an American invasion. And he has been investing a lot of the country's oil money in new toys for the troops. The recent purchase, at corruption-inflated prices, of a large lot of Russian assault rifles, will apparently be followed-up by the purchase of CASA maritime patrol aircraft from Spain and Amur Class submarines and Su-30 Flankers maritime strike fighters from Russia. This will cost an enormous amount of money, particularly since corruption will undoubtedly inflate the price, but the expenditure seems to be in keeping with several other recent developments that have boosted the Venezuelan Navy. The recently appointed chief of the national military staff is an admiral, a unique development in a nation in which the Army is considerably greater than the other two services. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 TGA - can do - just not under its' own power |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-07-20 14:21 |
| #7 They could buy the Charles de Gaulle (if it makes it across the Atlantic in one piece) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-07-20 13:35 |
| #6 After he has gorged himself on military hardware he will probably destroy what's left of a capitalistic free-economy. Then the system will implode on itself and we will be blamed for it. |
| Posted by: Snemp Glaique9693 2005-07-20 12:37 |
| #5 Prestige. Perhaps they need an aircraft carrier too. Any old big ass Soviet gun cruisers left to sell? Jeebus. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-07-20 12:14 |
| #4 What logical reason would a country like Venezuela have to acquire submarines? Well, they have a coastline and all their oil is shipped by tanker, so they would have a reason for a small sub force to protect their shipping lanes. That, and the "threaten their neighbors" part. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-07-20 12:01 |
| #3 "bolivarian Militia", Sounds like the South American version of Hitlers SS army. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-07-20 11:57 |
| #2 What logical reason would a country like Venezuela have to acquire submarines? To threaten shipping coming through the Panama Canal. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-20 11:23 |
| #1 What logical reason would a country like Venezuela have to acquire submarines? |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-07-20 11:20 |