Chavez's Military Build-Up

[monk222]

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Hugo Chavez may be having trouble keeping Venezuelans fed, but the military cannot complain:

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 24 — Venezuela’s arms spending has climbed to more than $4 billion in the past two years, transforming the nation into Latin America’s largest weapons buyer and placing it ahead of other major purchasers in international arms markets like Pakistan and Iran.

Venezuelan military and government officials here say the arms acquisitions, which include dozens of fighter jets and attack helicopters and 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles, are needed to circumvent a ban by the United States on sales of American weapons to the country.

They also argue that Venezuela must strengthen its defenses to counter potential military aggression from the United States.

It is observed, however, that even this sort of military build-up would not be much of a deterrent for the United States.

It does set up Venezuela as a regional superpower of sorts. The more interesting speculation is that Chavez is arming sure-loyalists in his military in preparation for future internal division that leads to anti-Chavez forces. I think this means that Chavez is president for life. Though, some would have us believe that this is indeed idle speculation:

“We simply have an interest in maintaining peace and stability,” General Muller Rojas said, describing the Caribbean as a crucial to its military influence. “We have no intent of using the Venezuelan armed forces to repress human rights.”

Well, I know that I am reassured.


(Source: Simon Romero for The New York Times)

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Comments

[wellreadmenace.livejournal.com]

Why would he need to be dictator for life when he keeps getting re-elected?

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Because under his management, the people may become disenchanted:

http://community.livejournal.com/politicsforum/1221587.html

[wellreadmenace.livejournal.com]

I'm not a huge fan of Chavez myself, but the fact that he scares the NY Times-reading elite encourages me. At any rate, it isn't like the country wasn't fucked up before, to be blunt. He's really not much different than the oligarchs who ruled the country before, except that they didn't invest in health care and education. Of course, they would have used the military in the same way you're insinuating, but that's okay as long as they're free-marketeers.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I respect the point that Americans have tended to support dictators who know where to stand and say the right thing (as well as cater to Amerian business interests), but they arguably were not real free-marketers as much as they were indeed more the sort of despot that Chavez has been becoming.

By the way, recalling that you have a thing for political theory, you might be interested better in the discussion between a couple of other friends under that post in my journal:

http://hardblue.livejournal.com/800197.html