Spain agrees Venezuela arms deal

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Link here: BBC news

 

Venezuela and Spain have signed a number of trade agreements, including the controversial sale of Spanish military equipment.

Opposition parties in both countries have criticised the deal reached in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

 

But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the equipment would be used for peaceful purposes.

 

It includes Spain's naval patrol vessels and military transport planes.

 

'Instruments of peace'

 

The agreements were signed at the end of Mr Zapatero's two-day visit to Venezuela.

 

Several of the deals involve Spain's and Venezuela's respective oil companies, PDVSA and Repsol.

 

But the most controversial is the sale of Spanish coastal patrol vessels and C-295 transport planes to the Venezuelan military.

 

Opposition parties in the two countries have criticised the arms deal, echoing earlier concerns by the US of Venezuela's plans to buy helicopters and guns from Russia.

 

But President Chavez said these were not weapons of war but instruments of peace.

 

The boats will be used, he said, to step up Venezuela's coastal patrols against the drugs trade.

 

While the transport planes would be used mainly for humanitarian missions inside and outside the country.

 

Mr Zapatero said he believed the criticisms levelled by the Spanish opposition were based on lack of information rather than any other intention.

 

And another article for contrast

 

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http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=11019

 

ISN SECURITY WATCH (31/03/05) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced on Wednesday that his country would sell €1.3 billion worth of military equipment to Venezuela, risking harsh criticism from the US and from opposition groups at home, who have called the deal a “monstrous error”.

 

Zapatero made the decision during a visit to Venezuela on Wednesday, where he joined a summit of Latin American leaders, including the presidents of Colombia and Brazil, Alvaro Uribe and Inacio Lula da Silva.

 

In its largest arms deal in years, Spain will sell Venezuela 10 C-295 transport planes, four coastal patrol corvettes, and four small coastguard patrol boats that would be used by the army to monitor the country’s coastlines, combat terrorism, fight drug traffickers, and launch natural disaster rescue operations, the British daily Independent reported.

 

Spanish opposition leader Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party harshly criticized Zapatero’s announcement, calling the deal “irresponsible”.

 

The Spanish prime minister has shrugged off all criticism, saying that “none of this equipment has any offensive capability whatsoever” and that the deal was only intended to fight terrorism and hunger.

 

Washington is concerned about Venezuela’s growing arms stockpile. Both Russia and Brazil have recently sold weapons and military equipment to left-wing President Hugo Chavez. Washington is most concerned that Chavez - whom it labels as authoritarian - could undermine US influence in the region. In April 2002, Washington backed a coup against Chavez that failed.

[!@#$%]

yeah, i guess we are nervous that someone we don't like is amassing arms.

good for them.

we tried to overthrow their democratically elected government for chrissakes.

they are mad as hell and they ain't gon' take that sheet no mo

[CACashRefund]

Very interesting, i dont remember the exact number but i think i read somewhere that venezuela was going to buy something like 200,000 AK-47s from russia. Shit is crazy, not to mention that Venezuela has a shitload of oil but at the moment isnt pumping that shit out at full capacity.

[!@#$%]

it's not crazy.

they see whats up.

we try to overthrow their govt, then we invade a sovereign oil rich nation.

 

they are hedging their bets and it is a smart thing to do.

it may only be a matter of time before we try to install a govt we like down there (again)

and we have a powerful military

(although who knows what it will look like in a few years)

they know to secure thier interests.

[CACashRefund]

Some info on Venezuela, found HERE

 

 

 

Venezuela was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Colombia and Ecuador). For most of the first half of the 20th century, Venezuela was ruled by generally benevolent military strongmen, who promoted the oil industry and allowed for some social reforms. Democratically elected governments have held sway since 1959. Current concerns include: a polarized political environment, a divided military, drug-related conflicts along the Colombian border, increasing internal drug consumption, overdependence on the petroleum industry with its price fluctuations, and irresponsible mining operations that are endangering the rain forest and indigenous peoples.

 

Military branches:

Definition Field Listing

National Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Nacionales or FAN) includes Ground Forces or Army (Fuerzas Terrestres or Ejercito), Naval Forces (Fuerzas Navales or Armada - including marines and Coast Guard), Air Force (Fuerzas Aereas or Aviacion), Armed Forces of Cooperation or National Guard (Fuerzas Armadas de Cooperacion or Guardia Nacional)

 

Military manpower - military age and obligation:

18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscript service obligation - 30 months (2004)

 

Military manpower - availability:

males age 15-49: 6,886,775 (2004 est.)

 

Military manpower - fit for military service:

males age 15-49: 4,953,803 (2004 est.)

 

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:

males: 250,730 (2004 est.)

 

Military expenditures - dollar figure:

$1,125.6 million (2003)

 

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:

1.3% (2003)

 

Disputes - international:

claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River, preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UNCLOS that the Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; maritime boundary dispute with Colombia in the Gulf of Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea; US, France and the Netherlands recognize Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves Island, which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation and other states' recognition of it

 

Illicit drugs:

small-scale illicit producer of opium and coca for the processing of opiates and coca derivatives; however, large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transit the country from Colombia bound for US and Europe; significant narcotics-related money-laundering activity, especially along the border with Colombia and on Margarita Island; active eradication program primarily targeting opium; increasing signs of drug-related activities by Colombian insurgents on border

[chivita]

i don't get what's up with this HUGO guy . he's castros apprentince am i right cause i don't know what beef he's trying to pick. i herd he's trying to make Venezuela what communist . so my theory is we're heading for WWlll. just mine . my friend say it' the end of the world and he trying to smoke before he dies . he a conspiracy nut but what i think is happening is that the U.S is fuckin with to much it can handle , and BUSH really isn't makeing things better. just me thu.

[CACashRefund]

Hugo isnt fucking with anyone, everyone is fucking with him. US wants his oil, FARC gurillas use his country to launch attacks on Colombia and Colombia retaliates by attacking Venezuela, not directly but they have been known to pursue FARC guerillas across the border and i remember reading somewhere that the two countries got into a bit of a skirmish over that shit.