Venezuela Continues Military Buildup

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez made an official announcement on Wednesday, stating that his country will soon purchase Sukhoi Russian fighter jets, causing wide concern among US officials regarding its continuous military buildup, CNN informs.


Chavez explained that the Russian fighter plane purchase came as an alternative to his country's F-16 air force fleet, initially bought from the United States, since their maintenance had become increasingly troublesome, because the US refused to sell new spare parts to Caracas.

His announcement, delivered at Fort Tiuna, a military base in Caracas, did not make any reference to the actual number of jets Venezuela will acquire from Russia: "We have decided to acquire Russian combat planes. The first shipment should be here before the end of the year".

A major critic of the United States, Venezuela would also buy 15 Russian helicopters worth of 200 million dollars (160 million euros) and governmental authorities expressed their hope of buying 18 more, disregarding the United States' warnings on this issue. Moreover, it will also buy 100,000 Russian AK-103 assault rifles, out of which the first 30,000 were already sent on June 3rd, and intends to build factories that would produce Kalashnikov rifles under license.

With the help of advantageous oil revenues, Chavez signed a very lucrative series of defense deals, estimated at 2.7 billion dollars, with Russia and Spain, whose aim is to improve the country's military department.

In reply, the United States issued an official statement last month, stating that it would halt arms sales to Venezuela, because the Latin American country has not complied with provisions and has not made enough efforts to support the war against terrorism.

The sudden military buildup occurs because of the chief of state's conviction that Venezuela would soon be invaded by the US, in order to be robbed of the oil and gas reserves, although the US authorities have denied such an action. In exchange, the US warned Chavez that he is increasingly becoming dictatorial and his seemingly authoritarian regime is threatening stability in Latin America.